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METHODS 
OF 

INDUSTRIAL  PEACE 


BY 


NICHOLAS  PAINE  GILMAN 


Great  economic  and  social  forces  flow  with  a  tidal  sweep  over 
communities  that  are  only  half  conscious  of  that  which  is 
befalling  them.  Wise  statesmen  are  those  who  foresee  what 
time  is  thus  bringing,  and  endeavor  to  shape  institutions  and 
to  mould  men's  thought  and  purpose  in  accordance  with  the 
change  that  is  silently  surrounding  them.  —  John  Morley 


BOSTON   AND    NEW   YORK 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY 

LONDON :  MACMILLAN  AND  COMPANY,  Ltd. 


COPYRIGHT   1904   BY   NICHOLAS   PAINE    OILMAN 
ALL    RIGHTS    RESERVED 

Published  April,  iq04 


Second  thousand 


HP 


TO 

ej  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

K  PRESIDENT  OF  THE   UNITED   STATES 

M 

S  IN  ADMIRATION 

s 

OF  HIS 
MAINTENANCE  OF  AMERICAN  PRINCIPLES 
2  IN  LABOR  MATTERS 

3 


<0 

u. 
O 

t 
C9 


432957 


If  experience  has  established  any  one  thing  in  this  world, 
it  has  established  this :  that  it  is  well  for  any  great  class  or 
description  of  men  in  society  to  be  able  to  say  for  itself 
what  it  wants,  and  not  to  have  other  classes,  the  so-called 
educated  and  intelligent  classes,  acting  for  it  as  its  proctors, 
and  supposed  to  understand  its  wants  and  provide  for  them. 
They  do  not  really  understand  its  wants,  they  do  not  really 
provide  for  them.  A  class  of  men  may  often  itself  not 
either  fully  understand  its  own  wants,  or  adequately  express 
them  ;  but  it  has  a  nearer  interest  and  a  more  sure  diligence 
in  the  matter  than  any  of  its  proctors,  and  therefore  a  better 
chance  of  success. 

Matthew  Arnold. 

It  is  an  infamous  thing  in  our  American  life,  and  funda- 
mentally treacherous  to  our  institutions,  to  apply  to  any 
man  any  test  save  that  of  his  personal  worth,  or  to  draw  be- 
tween two  sets  of  men  any  distinction  save  the  distinction 
of  conduct,  the  distinction  that  marks  off  those  who  do  well 
and  wisely  from  those  who  do  ill  and  foolishly.  There  are 
good  citizens  and  bad  citizens  in  every  class  as  in  every 
locality,  and  the  attitude  of  decent  people  toward  great 
public  and  social  questions  should  be  determined,  not  by  the 
accidental  questions  of  employment  or  locality,  but  by  those 
deej>set  principles  which  represent  the  innermost  souls  of 
men.  A  healthy  republican  government  must  rest  upon  in- 
dividuals, not  upon  classes  or  sections.  As  soon  as  it  be- 
comes government  by  a  class  or  by  a  section,  it  departs 
from  the  old  American  ideal. 

Theodore  Roosevelt. 


PREFACE 

There  Is  a  surprising  lack  of  books  in  the  English 
language  on  the  vital  matter  of  industrial  peace.  Four 
or  five  small  volumes,  the  latest  now  ten  years  old, 
exhaust  the  list.  I  have  embraced  the  opportuaiity 
thus  offered  to  treat  the  subject  more  comprehensively 
than  has  yet  been  done,  and  to  bring  the  treatment 
down  to  the  present  year.  Discussions  of  such  matters 
have  been  rendered  more  profitable  by  the  recent 
introduction  of  the  term  "  collective  bargaining  "  and 
by  the  discrimination  of  "  mediation,"  "  conciliation," 
and  "  arbitration "  as  peace-processes.  The  last  ten 
years  have  witnessed  the  so-far  successful  trial  by 
New  Zealand  of  the  method  of  legal  regulation  of 
labor  disputes  commonly  but  inaccurately  known  as 
"  compulsory  arbitration."  I  have  not  found  space  for 
a  full  exposition  of  the  working  of  this  remarkable 
legislation,  which  has  not  yet  received  from  economists 
the  consideration  due  to  its  great  importance.  But  I 
have  given  the  substance  of  the  existing  law,  a  number 
of  judgments  on  its  record  made  by  able  foreign  ob- 
servers, and  a  brief  statement  of  the  argument  for  the 
system.  The  time  has  not  yet  come  to  pronounce 
definitely  upon  it.  If  in  the  next  few  years  it  weath- 
ers a  crisis,  it  will  have  a  clear  title  to  be  called  a 


vi  PREFACE 

complete  success.  The  adoption  of  the  policy  by  two 
Australian  commonwealths  has  extended  the  area  of 
experimentation,  and  will  make  a  scientific  estimate 
of  its  merits  and  demerits  easier  and  more  trustwor- 
thy. Countries  like  the  United  States,  where  the  sys- 
tem of  legal  regulation  of  labor  disputes  is  not  yet 
well  known  or  entirely  understood,  should  meanwhile 
consider  with  care  the  fundamental  question  of  the 
relations  of  law  and  industry  in  the  light  of  this  re- 
cent experience.  There  is  plainly  a  growing  sentiment 
among  English-speaking  people  that  labor  disputes 
should  in  some  measure  be  brought  within  the  field 
of  law,  and  no  longer  continue  anomalous  and  lawless  : 
that  trade-unions  and  employers  should  not  be  allowed 
to  fight  out  their  quarrels,  whatsoever  the  injury  to  the 
public  may  be.  The  time  is  ripe  for  emphatic  asser- 
tion of  the  rights  of  the  public.  The  adjustment  of 
labor  difficulties  should  be  left  primarily  in  the  hands 
of  the  employer  and  the  trade-union.  But  if  they  will 
not  settle  them  speedily  and  peaceably,  then  the  public 
must  and  will  find  a  more  effectual  way. 

My  object  in  this  volume  being  not  history,  but  ex- 
position, numerous  labor  questions  have  been  touched 
upon  but  briefly.  I  have  confined  my  view  mainly 
to  feasible  methods  of  establishing  industrial  peace, 
which  have  had  actual  trial  and  proved  success.  My 
previous  volumes,  on  "  Profit  Sharing  "  and  "  A  Div- 
idend to  Labor,"  have  freed  me  from  the  necessity 
of  devoting  any  space  to  the  methods  therein  advo- 


PREFACE  vil 

cated,  in  which  I  retain  my  faith,  while  here  consid- 
ering the  more  specific  problem  of  the  prevention  of 
strikes  and  lockouts  under  the  usual  wages  contract. 

The  nineteen  volumes  of  the  Report  of  the  United 
States  Industrial  Commission  are  a  storehouse  of 
information  and  opinion  upon  which  I  have  freely 
drawn.  My  obligations  are  especially  great  to  Messrs. 
Charles  E.  Edgerton  and  E.  Dana  Durand,  the  ex- 
perts who  compiled  the  larger  part  of  volume  xvii. 
No  writer  touching  on  trade-unions  can  fail  to  acknow- 
ledge his  debt  to  Sidney  and  Beatrice  Webb's  admi- 
rable volumes,  "  The  History  of  Trade-Unionism  "  and 
"Industrial  Democracy."  Mr.  W.  P.  Reeves'  two 
volumes  on  "  State  Experiments  in  Australia  and 
New  Zealand "  furnish  altogether  the  best  short  ac- 
count of  the  conciliation  and  arbitration  laws  of 
those  countries.  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Reeves,  to  Mr. 
Edward  Tregear,  the  New  Zealand  commissioner  for 
labor,  to  the  Hon.  B.  R.  Wise,  of  New  South  Wales, 
and  to  the  labor  offices  of  several  Australian  colonies, 
for  documents  and  specific  information  ;  to  the  boards 
of  arbitration  of  various  American  States  for  sets  of 
their  reports ;  to  Mr.  H.  Llewellyn  Smith,  commis- 
sioner of  labor  for  the  United  Kingdom,  for  many 
courtesies ;  to  Mr.  E.  F.  Du  Brul,  commissioner  of 
the  National  Metal  Trades  Association,  and  to  Mr. 
Hennan  Justi,  commissioner  of  the  Illinois  Coal  Ope- 
rators Association,  and  to  numerous  other  correspon- 
dents in  England  and  America.    My  particular  thanks 


viii  PREFACE 

are  due  to  Hon.  Carroll  D.  Wright,  who  has  read  the 
proofs  of  the  entire  work,  and  to  Professor  John  B. 
Clark,  who  has  read  those  of  the  last  four  chapters. 

A  considerable  portion  of  the  matter  of  this  volume 
formed  the  substance  of  four  lectures  recently  given 
before  the  MeadviUe  Theological  School,  on  the  Adin 
Ballon  foundation.  It  is  a  pleasure  thus  to  associate 
a  discussion  of  industrial  harmony  with  the  name  of 
so  devoted  and  broadly  humane  an  advocate  of  peace 
as  Adin  Ballon. 

I  trust  that  this  work  will  have  some  effect  in 
clearing  the  minds  of  those  who  hereafter  discuss 
industrial  peace,  and  in  assisting  the  practice  of  those 
who  have  the  task  laid  upon  them  of  settling  labor 
disputes. 

N.  P.  G. 
Meadville,  Penn.,  March  21, 1904. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER    I 
Association  in  Modern  Industry 1 

CHAPTER   II 
Combination  of  Employees 16 

CHAPTER  ni 
Combination  of  Employers 47 

CHAPTER  IV 
Collective  Bargaining 62 

CHAPTER    V 
The  Slidlng  Scale 129 

CHAPTER   VI 
The  Incorporation  of  Industrial  Unions       .       .       .      149 

CHAPTER  VII 

Aims  and  Methods  of  Trade-Unionism. 

The  Living  Wage  —  The  Shorter  Day  —  The  Limitation  of 
Out-put  —  Apprentices  —  Workingmen's  Insurance  and 
Employers'  Liability 198 

CHAPTER    Vin 
Industrial  War. 

I.   Strikes  and  Lockouts 240 

II.   The  Blacklist  and  the  Boycott 266 

CHAPTER  IX 
Some  Rights  and  Duties  of  the  Public   .        •       .       .      277 


X  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER    X 
Conciliation  in  Labor  Disputes 285 

CHAPTER  XI 
Trade  Boards  of  Conciliation  and  Arbitration        .      301 

CHAPTER   XII 

State   Boards  of  Conciliation  and  Arbitration  in  the 

United  States 329 

CHAPTER  Xni 

Legal  Regulation  of   Labor  Disputes  in   Monopolistic 

Industries 346 

CHAPTER  XIV 
Legal  Regulation  of  Labor  Disputes  in  New  Zealand  364 

CHAPTER    XV 
The  Case  for  Legal  Regulation 401 

CHAPTER  XVI 
Essential  Conditions  of  Industrial  Peace       .        .        .  409 


Appendix  I.     Rules  of  Employers'  Associations      .        .        .      421 
Appendix  II.     "  Observations  "  of  the  Royal  Commission  .  429 

Index 431 


METHODS  OF  INDDSTRXAL  PEACE 

CHAPTER  I 

ASSOCIATION   IN   MODERN    INDUSTRY 

The  object  of  this  work  is  to  aid  in  the  better  com- 
prehension and  the  wider  dijffusion  of  the  principles  and 
the  methods  of  industrial  peace.  Let  us  first  consider 
the  matter  in  a  general  way.  By  "  industrial  peace  " 
we  are  to  understand  the  condition  of  things  in  which 
the  ordinary  processes  of  industrial  production  go  on 
regularly  and  quietly.  Production  is  then  as  fruitful 
as  possible  in  the  given  state  of  the  arts  and  sciences. 
The  rate  and  the  amount  of  production  gradually  ad- 
vance, since  the  whole  process  is  wide  open  to  new  in- 
ventions of  labor-saving  machinery  which  lower  the  first 
cost  of  the  articles  made,  and  thus  lead  to  a  larger  con- 
sumption. Under  such  conditions  the  employer  realizes 
a  ratio  of  profit  which  is  sufficient  to  keep  able  men 
in  the  business ;  he  receives  "  wages  of  superintend- 
ence," so-called,  and  dividends  on  the  capital  invested, 
commensurate  with  the  risk  taken  and  the  exertion 
and  talent  required.  The  workman  receives,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course,  wages  high  enough  to  procure  for  him- 
self and  his  family  the  necessities  of  life  at  all  times, 
and  a  good  share  also  of  the  comforts  of  life  in  pros- 
perous times.  The  standard  of  the  workman's  comfort 
steadily  rises  under  civilization  as  time  goes  on,  and 


2         ASSOCIATION  IN  MODERN  INDUSTRY 

invention  increases  the  purchasing  power  of  his  money 
wage.   "*  -' 

Peace,  then,  reigns  in  industry,  as  between  nations, 
when  the.  two  parties  are  for  the  time  being  fairly  well 
satisfied  with  the  status  quo  —  the  main  matter  in 
which  is  the  division  of  the  industrial  product  into  the 
employer's  profit  and  the  employee's  wages.  Peace 
continues  when  any  changes  proposed  by  the  employer 
to  the  employee  which  look  to  the  diminution  of  wages 
or  the  increase  of  the  length  of  the  working  day,  for 
instance,  are  accepted  at  once  by  the  workmen,  or  are 
modified  by  friendly  negotiation,  so  that  there  is  no 
rupture  of  the  usual  kindly  relations.  We  have  peace, 
again,  when  proposals  made  by  the  employee  to  the 
employer  which  involve  higher  wages  or  fewer  hours 
are  received  with  respect,  and  made  the  subject  of  im- 
mediate assent,  or  of  amicable  consideration.  Industrial 
peace  is  the  normal  condition  of  economic  production 
when  all  the  factors  work  together  harmoniously ;  "  in- 
dustrial war  "  is  the  abnormal  condition  which  inter- 
rupts the  usual  friendly  and  fruitful  processes  of  such 
natural  cooperation. 

In  the  industrial  world  we  have  the  analogy  of  war 
with  sword  and  gun  when  proposals  and  rides  made 
and  insisted  upon  by  one  party  to  an  industrial  con- 
tract are  not  accepted  by  the  other  party.  Whatever 
the  particular  point  may  be  on  which  the  rules  or  pro- 
posals turn,  or  from  whichever  side  they  come,  even  if 
they  are  considered  "  unfair  "  by  the  other  side  and 
consequently  rejected,  it  is,  of  course,  feasible  for  the 
work  of  production  to  go  on  for  a  season  as  before,  under 
the  previous  conditions,  —  the  time  not  being  judged 
auspicious  for  a  struggle.    But  if  the  party  proposing 


ASSOCIATION  IN  MODERN  INDUSTRY        3 

the  novelty  considers  the  conditions  favorable  for  a 
fight  to  the  finish  and  refuses  to  cooperate  unless  the 
new  terms  are  accepted,  we  have  the  likeness  in  the 
industrial  world  of  "  stramed  relations  "  between  coun- 
tries. The  ordinary  strike  and  lockout,  with  the 
threatening  and  abusive  language  which  they  generally 
bring  on,  are  at  first  mainly  a  war  of  words,  and  they 
correspond  to  a  withdrawal  of  diplomatic  intercourse 
between  two  nations.  This  war  of  words  breaks  no 
bones,  however,  although  it  may  be  very  effectual  in 
stirring  up  hatred  between  the  parties. 

If  the  suggestion  of  conciliation  or  arbitration,  made 
by  one  party,  is  declined  by  the  other,  and  also  any 
similar  suggestion  by  a  third  party,  we  then  have  some- 
thing much  like  a  declaration  of  war  between  the  two 
nations,  the  suggestion  or  the  actual  proffer  of  friendly 
mediation  from  another  country  having  been  refused. 
Mediation  being  repelled  by  one  party  or  by  both,  the 
tendency  is  to  acts  which  forcibly  declare  the  feelings 
of  the  two  parties,  these  naturally  becoming  more  and 
more  virulent.  The  trade-union  is  then  apt  to  show 
the  militant  character  of  its  organization  ;  threats  often 
change  into  deeds  of  violence  ;  peaceful  "  picketing  " 
becomes  injurious  assault  upon  non-unionists  seeking 
to  fill  the  places  of  the  strikers,  and  they  may  be 
wounded  or  even  killed ;  and  their  houses  fired  or 
blown  up  with  dynamite.  Whether  these  outrages  are 
committed  by  strikers  or  by  their  sympathizers  among 
the  dangerous  classes,  every  weapon  of  abuse  or  vio- 
lence is  brought  into  play,  covertly  or  openly,  and  the 
union  does  little  or  nothing  to  sheathe  them.  The 
works  of  the  employer  are  beset  by  an  angry  crowd 
in  the  effort  to  keep  non-unionists  from  entering,  and 


4         ASSOCIATION  IN  MODERN  INDUSTRY 

a  state  of  siege  is  practically  declared.  The  employer 
erects  a  stockade  around  the  works,  and  shelters  and 
provisions  there  a  force  of  workmen  protected  by  pri- 
vate troops  armed  with  rifles  and  revolvers.  The  works 
are  destroyed,  in  whole  or  in  part,  by  the  efforts  of  the 
besiegers.  Many  persons  not  directly  concerned  are 
boycotted  by  the  strikers,  or  are  locked  out  by  the 
employers,  in  the  endeavor  to  embroil  the  whole  com- 
mimity  in  the  dispute,  just  as  two  nations  may  endeavor 
to  bring  about  a  general  European  war  m  support  of 
their  conflict  with  each  other.  The  peace  and  order  of 
the  whole  city  are  deranged  during  a  great  strike.  A 
lawless  mob  threatens  to  bring  about  entire  anarchy. 
After  the  poHce  have  ineffectually  done  all  that  they 
can  imder  the  orders  of  a  tunid  mayor,  and  the  ir- 
resolute sheriff  has  called  out  the  posse  comitatus  in 
vain,  at  last  the  governor  of  the  State,  or  even  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  is  called  upon  to  send 
troops,  and  then  we  have  war  not  at  all  by  way  of 
analogy,  but  in  bitter  earnest  and  in  full  severity,  as 
at  Homestead  in  1892  and  at  Chicago  in  1894.  This 
warfare  can  have  only  one  termination  in  a  civilized 
country  where  law  is  thoroughly  enforced.  Whether 
the  strike  goes  as  far  as  this  open  warfare  or  not,  we 
often  have  the  spirit  of  war  between  the  two  parties,  — 
the  hell  of  its  passions,  if  not  of  its  actions. 

Such  lamentable  events  as  these  occur,  very  plainly, 
because  of  the  combination  of  workingmen  in  large 
numbers.  If  there  were  no  trade-union  in  a  particular 
town,  and  an  extreme  dissatisfaction  with  the  condi- 
tions of  their  labor  pervaded  the  body  of  workingmen 
in  a  certain  factory,  one  workman  after  another  might 
walk  out,  laying  down  his  tools  because  of  his  discon- 


ASSOCIATION  IN  MODERN  INDUSTRY         5 

tent,  but  having  no  concert  of  action  with  his  fellows. 
Then  no  such  results  as  we  have  just  enumerated 
would  probably  ensue.  "  A  strike  in  detail "  of  this 
kind  would  be  an  expression  of  the  "  social  mind  "  of 
the  body  of  workmen  ;  but,  without  a  definite  agree- 
ment between  them,  there  M^ould  be  nothing  to  remind 
us  of  organized  war.  Guerilla  skirmishes  there  might 
be,  but  they  would  be  strictly  individual  or  small-group 
matters.  Anything  properly  to  be  called  war  implies 
organization  on  the  part  of  the  persons  waging  it. 
Only  combination  on  the  part  of  the  workingmen  en- 
ables this  industrial  war  to  be  carried  on  by  them  with 
any  hope  of  success,  the  trust  of  both  parties  being 
always  in  the  strongest  battalions.  It  is  obvious  that 
the  single  workman  is  very  weak,  under  the  conditions 
of  modern  industry,  as  against  the  employer  of  labor 
on  a  large  scale.  Combination  gives  the  associated 
workingmen  all  the  strength  of  numbers  cooperating, 
and  the  modern  mdustrial  problem  —  peace  or  war 
—  is  therefore  the  problem  of  right  and  reasonable 
combination.^ 

^  "  The  organization  of  labor  "  is  the  form  of  words  most  often  used 
to  denote  trade-unionism.  Gilbert  Wakefield  long  ago  suggested,  in 
a  note  to  Adam  Smith's  classical  chapter  on  the  "  division  of  labor," 
that  "  the  organization  of  labor  "  would  be  a  more  fitting  term  to 
denote  the  fact  illustrated  in  The  Wealth  of  Nations  from  the  industry 
of  pin-making,  and  familiar  to  writers  on  society  from  the  days  of 
Plato  to  our  own  time.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  Wakefield's  suggestion 
did  not  prevail,  for  there  could  hardly  be  a  better  term  to  mark  the 
interdependence  of  many  workers,  in  a  modern  watch  factory,  for  ex- 
ample, than  the  word  which  brings  to  the  front  the  organic  nature  of 
the  phenomenon.  In  an  age  of  biology  no  phrase  could  be  more  feli- 
citous. Were  it  in  use  for  this  purpose,  such  a  term  as  "  the  association 
of  labor,"  or,  better,  ''  the  association  of  workmen,"  or  "  the  combina- 
tion of  workmen  "  might  well  be  employed  to  cover  trade-unionism. 
But  to  little  purpose  do  we  quarrel  with  history,  in  the  endeavor  to 
correct  uses  of  terms  that  have  become  fixed,  or  to  propose  happier 


6         ASSOCIATION  IN  MODERN  INDUSTRY 

The  natural  history  of  the  combination  of  laboring 
men  may  be  briefly  traced  here.  In  the  earlier  forms 
of  industry  which  prevailed  before  the  factory  system 
arose,  the  more  expert  handicraftsman  practised  his 
trade,  as  a  rule,  with  the  aid  of  a  single  journeyman, 
or  an  apprentice,  or  both.  Beyond  this,  as  employers,  the 
great  majority  of  handicraftsmen  never  went,  and  those 
who  practised  their  trade  at  any  time  with  no  assistance 
from  journeyman  or  apprentice  probably  far  outnum- 
bered those  who  had  two  or  three  helpers,  more  or  less 
advanced.^  The  craftsmen  who  kept  at  work  any  con- 
siderable number  of  journeymen  and  apprentices  were 
thus  comparatively  few,  and  the  latter  were  not  nu- 
merous enough  to  create  a  "  labor  problem  "  between 
employer  and  employed.  This  was  as  true  of  seven- 
teenth-century England  or  of  colonial  America  as  of 
eighteenth-century  France  or  Germany.  The  relics  of 
pre-factory  industry  which  linger  to-day  in  the  parts 
of  New  England  most  remote  from  railways,  or  the 

forms  of  language.  "  The  organization  of  labor  "  means  to-day  in 
common  use,  for  the  workingman  and  the  economist  alike,  the  associ- 
ation of  trade-people  in  bodies  known  as  "  unions."  I  use  "  combina- 
tion "  and  "  organization  "  as  synonymous  in  this  volume. 

1  "  In  the  year  1784  there  were  in  the  duchy  of  Magdeburg  27,050 
independent  masters  and  only  4,285  assistants  and  apprentices.  About 
the  same  time,  in  the  principality  of  Wiirzburg  (in  Bavaria)  13,762 
masters  with  2,176  assistants  and  apprentices  were  returned.  In  both 
territories  there  were  for  every  hundred  masters  but  15.8  journeymen 
and  apprentices.  Thus,  if  we  assume  that  the  assistants  were  equally 
distributed  among  the  masters,  one  journeyman  or  apprentice  hardly 
fell  to  each  sixth  master.  In  more  than  five  sixths  of  the  instances  the 
master  carried  on  his  work  single-handed.  In  1780  the  town  of  Bo- 
chum  (in  Westphalia)  counted  for  every  five  master  masons  one ;  in 
the  other  crafts  they  were  for  every  twenty-six  master  shoemakers 
three,  for  every  twenty-one  master  bakers,  every  eight  carpenters,  and 
every  five  master  masons  one  ;  in  the  other  crafts  they  were  altogether 
lacking."  —  Industrial  Evolution,  by  Carl  Biicher,  pp.  188-189. 


ASSOCIATION  IN  MODERN  INDUSTRY        7 

similar  phenomena  which  more  abundantly  manifest 
themselves  in  the  Appalachian  country  of  the  South- 
ern States,  take  us  back  to  this  time  of  the  household 
functioning  as  a  close  economic  organi2;ation  and  pro- 
ducing on  the  farm  all  the  raw  material  to  be  used 
in  making  clothing  and  other  things  needful  for  the 
simple  life  of  the  farmer  or  the  mountaineer.^  Any 
difficulty  that  might  arise  in  regard  to  j^roduction, 
distribution,  or  consumption  in  such  a  household  would 
be  mainly,  if  not  entirely,  a  family  affair.  It  would  be 
adjusted  in  accordance  with  the  traditional  rules  of 
domestic  discipline  ;  it  would  be,  not  a  "  labor  trouble," 
but  a  "  family  jar." 

The  practice  of  agriculture,  before  the  advent  of 
machinery,  was  especially  free  from  industrial  dissen- 
sions, the  employment  relation  being  of  the  simplest. 
The  great  majority  of  American  farmers,  for  instance, 
cultivated  their  few  acres  with  such  helji  as  their  wives 
and  their  children  could  give.  When  a  man  compara- 
tively incapable  and  therefore  not  independent,  in  a 
farming  region  thinly  settled,  was  content  to  hire  him- 
self out  by  the  day,  or  the  week,  or  the  month,  to  a 
farmer  desirous  of  enlarging  his  activity,  he  was  usually 
the  only  hired  man  on  the  farm  ;  he  might,  in  the  early 
days  of  primitive  New  England,  be  even  the  only  per- 
son holding  such  a  relation  in  the  town.  As  long  as 
the  nmnber  of  such  persons  remained  small  by  the 
side  of  the  independent  farmers  themselves,  there  was 
no  room  for  anything  in  the  way  of  disputes  except 

^  See  who  ■will  the  novels  of  "  Charles  Egbert  Craddock, "  in  which 
Miss  Murfree  incidentally  pictures  the  industrial  life  of  the  Tennessee 
mountaineers  ;  for  a  more  specific  treatment  consult  the  interesting' 
•article  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  for  March,  1899,  "  Our  Contemporary 
Ancestors  in  the  Southern  Mountains,"  by  Mr.  W.  G.  Frost. 


8         ASSOCIATION  IN  MODERN  INDUSTRY 

those  mainly  due  to  more  or  less  transient  causes  in 
personal  characteristics.  The  farmer  labored  much 
of  the  year  side  by  side  with  his  "  help,"  whom  he 
boarded  and  lodged,  on  the  same  work,  for  the  same 
hours.  The  sun  regulated  the  length  of  the  working 
day  for  owner  and  hired  man  alike.  If  the  farmer 
could  not  reasonably  expect  the  pace  set  by  himself,  the 
higlily  interested  proprietor,  to  be  always  observed  by 
the  less  capable  help,  he  at  least  secured  some  tolerable 
approximation  to  it.  A  persistent  "  ca'-canny "  be- 
havior on  the  latter's  part  would  lead  to  a  smimiary 
rupture  of  the  relationshi]) ;  and  the  primitive  equiva- 
lent for  the  modern  "  black-list,"  in  the  effective  form 
of  farmers'  talk  with  neighbor  farmers,  woidd  cause 
the  man  dismissed  to  seek  employment  at  a  distance.^ 
As  long,  indeed,  in  any  occupation,  as  the  owner  or 
master  works  side  by  side  with  the  servant  or  helper, 
there  is  little  opportunity  or  reason  for  labor  troubles 
to  arise.  There  is  no  public  opinion  created  by  a  large 
number  of  simple  laborers.  The  public  opinion  of  such 
a  time  is  the  creation  of  the  men  who  work  on  their 
own  farms  the  year  round,  or  more  or  less  steadily  in 
their  little  shops,  and  who  are  in  fact  a  nohlesse  of 
character,  capacity,  and  activity  by  the  side  of  other 
men  not  efficient  or  thrifty  enough  to  join  the  ranks 
of  such  an  aristocracy  of  diligence  and  ability.    The 

1  The  English  trade-unionists  are  responsible,  I  believe,  for  the  ap- 
plication of  the  Scotch  phrase  "  ca'  cannie  "  to  labor.  "  Ca'  "  is  not 
short  for  "  call,"  but,  as  the  Century  Dictionary  tells  us,  is  probably 
derived  from  the  Gaelic  calc,  -which  is  equivalent  to  the  Irish  calcam, 
"to  drive  with  a  hammer,  to  calk."  "  Ca'  cannie"  (literally,  "  drive 
g'ently")  is  defined,  "to  proceed  with  caution;  don't  act  rashly." 
The  trade-unionist  means  by  it,  "  Go  slow  ;  don't  over-exert  yourself." 
The  efEect  of  such  a  motto  on  the  ordinary  workman's  practice  is 
easily  imagined. 


ASSOCIATION  IN  MODERN  INDUSTRY        9 

exMbition  on  the  laborer's  side  of  the  qualities  of  good 
workmanshij)  is  made  before  the  very  eyes  of  the  em- 
ployer-worker ;  recognitiou  is  inmiediate  and  leads  to 
continuous  friendliness. 

Fundamentally,  then,  we  may  say  that  the  relation 
of  the  employer  to  the  employed  is  the  relation  of  an 
aristocrat  (in  the  good  sense  of  natural  ability)  to  a 
democracy,  conceived  as  a  body  more  or  less  numerous, 
made  up  of  average  men.  The  average  man  has  not 
force  or  ability  enough  to  become  a  successful  employer. 
He  usually  fails  if  he  tries  to  be  more  than  the  employer 
of  himself,  and  even  in  this  very  restricted  field  it  is 
often  true  (as  the  lawyers  say  of  a  man  who  is  his  own 
lawyer  that  he  "  has  a  fool  for  a  client  ")  that  he  has  a 
most  incompetent  manager,  "  Mankind  is  a  poor  crea- 
ture," Sir  M.  Grant  Duff  has  lately  declared  ;  certainly 
it  is  a  happy  privilege  for  the  vast  mass  of  men  that  they 
may  be  directed  in  their  industrial  life,  not  having  wit 
enough  to  direct  themselves  or  others.  No  compara- 
tive success  of  the  democratic  principle  in  political 
matters  shoidd  blind  our  eyes  to  the  importance  of  the 
aristocratic  jjrinciple  in  business.  The  successful  em- 
ployer rises  out  of  the  crowd  of  ordinary  men  through 
a  process  of  natural  selection  which  no  abstractions 
of  democratic  theory  can  set  aside.  If  all  men  were 
equally  endowed  with  the  employer's  talent  (which 
is  perhaps  equivalent  to  supposing  that  all  men  were 
equally  destitute  of  it),  one  can  see  how  ini230ssible 
much  of  modern  progress  would  be,  depending  as  this 
does  on  the  massing  of  large  numbers  of  men,  coop- 
erating with  each  other  and  practising  in  a  high 
degree  the  division  of  labor.  An  industrial  world 
made  up  of  individuals  working  separately,  each  on 


10       ASSOCIATION  IN  MODERN  INDUSTRY 

his  own  account,  would  necessarily  have  lagged  far  be- 
hind this  twentieth  century.  Happily  mankind  thus 
far  has  been  ruled  by  the  principles  of  a  natural  aristo- 
cracy as  well  as  by  those  of  a  natural  democracy,  and 
the  most  common  of  all  social  phenomena  have  been  the 
ability  of  a  few  to  lead  and  the  readiness  of  the 
many  to  follow.  Were  an  absolutely  free  field  given 
to  talent  to-morrow  by  the  utter  destruction  of  obedi- 
ence and  leadership,  the  old  world  would  soon  be  re- 
established by  the  doctrinaire  democracy,  for  its  own 
salvation.^ 

No  cant  is  more  insufferable  to-day  than  declama- 
tion to  the  effect  that  all  men  are  "  slaves  "  who  have 
to  work  for  their  living  on  day  wages.  We  may  rightly 
call  ourselves  "  slaves,"  if  we  please  to  use  an  emphatic 
word,  to  the  very  necessities  of  our  animal  existence, 
which  demand  that  we  must  work  if  we  would  eat ;  but 
this  is  true  of  all  but  a  very  few  men.  This  slavery  of 
the  free  is  not  the  slavery  which  they  have  in  mind 
who  use  words  with  any  degree  of  precision  in  careful 
discussions,^   The  often  disagreeable  fact  that  we  can- 

1  As  Dr.  Holmes  humorously  put  it,  if  a  general  conflagration  should 
occur,  destroying  all  accumulated  wealth,  there  would  soon  be  a  new 
class  of  millionaires,  founded  on  the  trade  in  ashes. 

^  As  Dr.  J.  K.  Ingram  well  says  in  his  History  of  Slavery  and  Serf- 
dom :  "  Careless  or  rhetorical  writers  use  the  words '  slave '  and  '  slavery' 
in  a  very  lax  way.  Thus,  when  protesting  against  the  so-called  '  Sub- 
jection of  Woman,'  they  absurdly  apply  those  terms  to  the  condition 
of  the  wife  in  the  modern  society  of  the  West  —  designations  which 
are  inappropriate  even  in  the  case  of  the  inmates  of  Indian  zenanas  ; 
and  they  speak  of  the  modern  worker  as  a  '  wage-slave '  even  though 
he  is  backed  by  a  powerful  trade-union.  Passion  has  a  language  of  its 
own,  and  poets  and  orators  must  doubtless  be  permitted  to  denote  by 
the  word  '  slavery '  the  position  of  subjects  of  a  state  who  labor  under 
civil  disabilities  or  are  excluded  from  the  exercise  of  political  power ; 
but  in  sociological  study  things  ought  to  have  their  right  names  " 
(p.  261). 


ASSOCIATION  IN  MODERN  INDUSTRY      11 

not  order  our  own  comings  and  goings  every  day  of 
our  lives,  and  do  exactly  "  as  we  please,"  does  not 
justify  the  assertion  that  we  are  therefore  the  "  slaves  " 
of  the  man  who  finds  us  work  and  in  return  for  our 
work  gives  us  regularly  the  means  of  existence.  It  is 
pleasant  to  think  of  ourselves  as  our  own  employers, 
absolutely  free  from  orders  given  by  any  other ;  but 
we  cannot  shake  off  his  power  without  incurring  his 
responsibility  to  keep  the  worker  alive  and  at  work ! 
The  "  slave  "  that  the  factory-hand  in  SaKord  or  Fall 
River  may  choose  to  call  himself  is  not  the  "  slave  "  of 
the  scientific  writer  on  slavery,  —  "a  man  who  is  the 
property  or  possession  of  another  man."  ^  Compulsory 
labor  for  another  is  implied,  as  Dr.  Nieboer  tells  us, 
in  being  his  possession  or  property,  but  does  not  itself 
constitute  the  slave-relation.  Especially  if  we  dis- 
tinguish, as  we  should,  between  persons  employed  in 
personal  service  for  the  well-to-do  and  the  much  greater 
multitude  employed  in  productive  enterprises,  shall  we 
see  the  shallowness  of  declamation  about  the  "  slav- 
ery" of  wage-earners  who  are  often  house-owners, 
completely  their  own  masters  outside  of  certain  hours, 
and,  above  all,  voters  in  a  free  state. 

The  problem  of  the  relations  of  the  employer  and  the 
employed  is  created,  then,  so  far  at  least  as  its  acute 
phases  are  concerned,  by  the  factory  system  and  the 
use  of  machinery  in  large-scale  production.  The  factory 
system  brings  together  a  large  number  of  workpeople 
in  the  same  place.  It  would  be  very  strange  if  this 
immediate  nearness  in  work-time  and  in  rest-time  did 
not  bring  about,  sooner  or  later,  some  form  of  combi- 

1  Dr.  H,  J.  Nieboer's  definition  in  his  Slavery  as  an  Industrial  Sys- 
tem,  p.  7. 


12       ASSOCIATION  IN  MODERN  INDUSTRY 

nation  in  aid  of  the  workers'  common  interests.  We 
need  not  travel  far  to  account  for  the  coming-up  of 
trade-unions.  We  need  much  rather,  if  we  are  inter- 
ested in  origins,  to  find  the  causes  why  they  did  not 
appear  sooner,  and  why  their  present  numbers  are  not 
larger.  Given  man  as  a  social  being,  and  such  obvious 
considerations  of  self-interest  as  lie  before  the  factory 
worker,  the  result  in  large  and  permanent  associations 
can  only  be  a  matter  for  time  to  ripen.  Ignorance 
and  a  generally  degraded  condition,  and  a  consequent 
lack  of  force  and  initiative  on  the  part  of  the  earliest 
factory  hands  were  probably  the  sufficient  reasons 
why  they  did  not  organize  earlier  and  more  effectu- 
ally. But  when  factory  workers  have  received  a  good 
common-school  education,  when  they  are  voters,  when 
"  self-help"  is  the  familiar  motto  of  the  society  of  which 
they  form  a  large  part,  nothing  could  be  more  natural, 
as  nothing  could  be  more  rational,  than  combination 
for  the  common  welfare  of  the  class. 

In  primitive  industry  the  craftsmen  and  the  agri- 
culturists were  many,  but  emjiloyers  and  employed 
were  few.  To-day  the  conditions  are  greatly  changed, 
in  a  world  vastly  enlarged.  The  independent  craftsmen 
no  longer  fill  the  front  of  the  industrial  stage.  The 
employers  are  many,  indeed,  but  the  employed  are  a 
great  multitude,  and  the  tendency  is  strongly  toward 
an  increase  in  the  number  of  workpeople  employed  in 
a  single  establishment.  It  is  an  age  of  large-scale  pro- 
duction, and  only  agriculture,  the  most  peculiar  and 
primitive  of  industries,  offers  better  chances  of  success 
for  producers  on  a  small  scale.  Whole  regiments,  even 
whole  armies,  of  workers  are  employed  in  many  of  our 
modern  industrial  establishments.  Especially  since  the 


ASSOCIATION  IN  MODERN  INDUSTRY      13 

advent  of  "  trusts  "  have  their  numbers  swollen  to  tens 
of  thousands  under  one  management.^ 

The  abstract  right  of  combination,  in  law  or  in 
morals,  is  no  longer  denied  to  the  workingmen  by 
reasonable  persons.  It  is  the  use  of  the  right  which 
is  the  vital  matter,  —  that  is  to  say,  the  rightful  use 
of  the  large  power  which  combination  actually  gives. 
Only  a  Philistine  employer  can  object,  at  this  late 
day,  to  workingmen  combining  to  maintain  their  stand- 
ard of  living,  or  to  improve  their  condition.  The 
"  impartial  spectator "  in  modern  society  long  since 
declared  such  association  a  most  natural  and  laudable 
effort  on  their  part,  and  he  woidd  earnestly  encourage 
workmen  so  to  associate  themselves.  This  is  the  posi- 
tion of  the  philanthropists,  of  the  economists,  and  of 
the  sociologists,  —  all  in  full  accord  to-day  with  the 
trade-unionists  themselves  on  this  vital  matter.  Take, 
for  instance,  the  statement  of  tlie  Amalgamated  Asso- 
ciation of  Street  Railway  Employees  of  America,  that 
its  end  is,  "  briefly,  by  all  legal  and  proper  means  to 
elevate  our  moral,  intellectual,  and  social  condition." 


1  The  fact  is  too  familiar  to  need  detailed  figures,  but  I  may  give  a 
few  from  a  convenient  source.  In  my  volume  A  Dividend  to  Labor,  I 
have  mentioned,  among  American  establishments,  a  watch  factory 
employing  2,000  hands  ;  a  silk  mill,  2,500  ;  a  bicycle  company,  3,000 ; 
a  scale  works,  1,000  ;  a  paper  mill,  1,000  ;  a  lumber  company,  1,000, 
and  the  Carnegie  Steel  Works,  15,000,  —  now  included  among  the 
G8,000  employees  attributed  to  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation. 
As  a  minor  indication  of  the  fact  that  the  present  labor  problem  is  a 
problem  of  great  numbers  of  workmen  massed  in  large  establish- 
ments, one  may  take  the  statement  of  the  English  Board  of  Trade 
Labour  Gazette,  where  it  gives  tabular  information  about  trade  dis- 
putes :  "  Disputes  involving  less  than  10  workpeople  and  those  which 
lasted  less  than  one  day  have,  as  usual,  been  omitted  from  the  statis- 
tics, except  when  the  aggregate  duration  exceeded  100  working 
days." 


14       ASSOCIATION  IN  MODERN  INDUSTRY 

Take  the  statement,  in  the  present  constitution,  Ar- 
ticle II.,  o£  the  aims  of  the  Knights  of  Labor :  "  To 
secure  to  the  workers  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  wealth 
they  create  ;  sufficient  leisure  in  which  to  develop  their 
intellectual,  moral,  and  social  faculties ;  all  of  the 
benefits,  recreations,  and  pleasures  of  association  ;  in  a 
word,  to  enable  them  to  share  in  the  gains  and  honors 
of  advancing  civilization."  The  American  Federation 
of  Labor  likewise  declares  that  its  object  is  the  "  Mu- 
tual protection  and  benefit  of  the  toiling  millions," 
and  "  to  secure  national  legislation  in  the  interest  of 
the  working  people,  and  influence  public  opinion  by 
peaceful  and  legal  methods  in  favor  of  organized  labor." 
Such  puri^oses  commend  themselves,  and  there  is  no 
need  to  quote  the  many  approvals  of  them  in  the  social 
literature  of  our  time. 

Consenting  voices  in  favor  of  the  association  of 
workingmen  might  be  indefinitely  multiplied.  Probably 
most,  if  not  all,  of  these  would  say  that  the  association 
of  employers  of  labor,  as  such,  is  just  as  innocent  and 
just  as  laudable.  Association,  more  or  less  formal, 
has  been  the  usual  rule  among  modern  employers,  as 
Adam  Smith  said,  and  as  we  shall  see ;  but  they  are  to 
be  reproached  to-day  with  too  little,  not  with  too  much, 
zeal  in  this  direction  of  organization  in  order  to  meet 
the  demands  of  the  unions  with  an  equal  front.  The 
praise  which  all  other  classes  give  to  combination,  as 
worked  out  among  employers  or  employed,  is  to  be 
qualified  by  one  most  important  remark.  If  association 
works  for  the  benefit  of  a  class,  well  and  good,  so  far. 
If  this  association,  on  the  contrary,  works  also  for  the 
injury  of  another  class,  it  is  neither  well  nor  good,  for 
all  the  members  of  the  social  body.    Modern  society 


ASSOCIATION  IN  MODERN  INDUSTRY      15 

will  heartily  approve  beneficent  combination.  It  will 
as  heartily  rebuke  maleficent  combination.  The  au- 
thoritative test  is  to  be  applied  to  every  class  union, 
not  by  the  opposite  class,  but  by  society  in  general, 
which  includes  both  classes  and  all  other  classes.  The 
public  is  the  supreme  court  of  appeal,  and  it  does  not 
approve  of  trade-unions  making  war  on  employers' 
associations ;  or  of  employers'  associations  fighting 
trade-unions  to  the  bitter  end  ;  or  of  trade-unions  and 
employers'  associations  banded  together  to  fleece  the 
public. 

Let  us  now  go  on  to  consider  separately,  and  in 
more  detail,  the  outlines  of  the  history  and  the  pur- 
poses of  the  two  kinds  of  justifiable  industrial  combi- 
nation, —  the  trade-union  standing  for  the  interests  of 
the  workingman  and  the  employers'  association  stand- 
ing for  the  interests  of  the  employer.  These  two  organ- 
izations, when  weU  developed,  conduct  with  each  other 
that  "  collective  bargaming  "  which  is  perhaps  the  most 
striking  phenomenon  of  modern  production  on  a  large 
scale.i 

^  Discussion  of  the  general  history  of  combination  is  to  be  found 
chiefly  in  a  few  volumes  like  Carl  Biicher's  Industrial  Evolution,  John 
A.  Hobson's  Evolution  of  Modern  Capitalism,  and  Professor  R.  T.  Ely's 
Studies  in  the  Evolution  of  Industrial  Society,  part  i.  ;  and,  to  a  less 
degree,  in  the  standard  treatises  on  economics.  Here  Walker,  Hadley, 
and  Nicholson  are  most  helpful. 


CHAPTER  II 

COMBINATION    OF   EMPLOYEES 

The  name  usually  given  to  a  combination  of  working- 
men  or  working-women  to  promote  their  interests  as 
workers  is  "  trade-union."  ^  A  trade-union,  in  common 
speech,  is  a  continuous  association,  made  up  of  work- 
ing people  only  who  belong  to  a  particular  trade  or 
industry,  and  formed  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  the 
pressure  of  an  organization  to  bear  in  their  interests 
upon  their  employer  or  employers. ^    This  pressure  of 

1  The  first  half  of  this  compound  word  is  often  written  "  trades,"  in 
the  plural.  But  "  trades-union  "  is  an  incorrect  expression  for  the 
phenomenon  in  question,  although  it  is  commonly  found  in  older  writ- 
ers of  the  first  rank,  like  Jevons  and  Bagehot  for  instance,  and  appears 
also  in  Palgrave's  Dictionary  of  Political  Economy,  and  in  many  books 
of  less  importance.  "  Trades-union  "  would  mean,  properly,  a  union 
of  trades,  or  of  persons  in  various  trades,  with  each  other.  For  exam- 
ple, a  number  of  employees  in  the  different  building  trades  might  form 
a  "  trades-union  "  of  such  workmen.  On  a  larger  scale,  it  might  in- 
clude many  employees  from  several  trades  not  so  nearly  allied  as  the 
building  trades.  The  Knights  of  Labor,  in  their  district  assemblies, 
include  men  of  all  trades  in  this  way.  On  the  other  hand,  '"  trade- 
union  "  properly  means  a  union  of  persons  in  one  particular  trade  or 
occupation.  Strictly  taken,  it  might  mean  any  kind  of  such  combina- 
tion, so  long  as  all  its  members  were  engaged  in  the  same  occupation. 
It  might  thus  be  made  up  of  employers  alone,  or  of  employees  alone, 
or  it  might  be  an  association  of  both  parties.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
there  are  or  have  been  examples  of  these  three  kinds  of  combination. 
The  usual  meaning  of  the  word  is  the  one  followed  in  the  text. 

^  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb,  in  their  standard  History  of  Trade-Unionism, 
define  a  trade-union  as  "  a  continuous  association  of  wage-earners  for 
the  purpose  of  maintaining  or  improving  the  conditions  of  their  em- 
ployment.'' This  definition  seems  rather  too  vague  for  our  particular 
purpose,  and  in  fact  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb  forsake  it  at  a  critical  moment 


COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES  17 

a  body  of  workingmen  may  be  exerted  mainly  in  favor 
of  claims  for  higher  wages  and  a  shorter  working  day, 
or,  in  less  degree,  for  any  other  change  which  they 
deem  an  improvement  in  the  methods  or  conditions  of 
the  industry.  Such  pressure  is  equally  to  be  expected 
from  them  in  the  way  of  opposition  to  contrary  move- 
ments by  the  employers,  which  imply  a  reduction  of 
wages,  a  lengthening  of  the  working  day,  or  any  other 
change  in  methods  or  conditions  which  the  workingmen 
consider  unfavorable  to  themselves. 

A  trade-union  is  primarily  not  a  peaceful,  but  a  mil- 
itant body,  —  a  more  or  less  combative  association  of 
workmen  organized  for  mutual  assistance  in  contests, 
offensive  or  defensive,  with  the  employer.  Association 
for  purposes  of  industrial  conflict  is  the  essential  prin- 
ciple of  the  trade-union.  Features  of  the  ordinary 
"  mutual  aid  "  and  "  benefit  "  societies  may  be  found  in 
nearly  all  unions  ;  but,  so  far  as  these  features  have  no 
relation  to  strikes,  they  do  not  affect  the  relation  to 
the  employer  which  gives  these  bodies  their  significance. 
In  some  of  the  organizations  mutual  aid  and  benefit 
are  important  and  effective  ;  but,  however  notable  they 
may  be,  they  are  even  here  a  secondary,  not  a  funda- 
mental matter  in  the  system  of  trade-unionism.  A 
workingman  joins  a  union,  not  chiefly  to  provide 
against  sickness  or  old  age,  or  even  times  of  \inemploy- 
ment,  but  mainly  and  primarily  with  reference  to  his 
future  as  distinctively  a  wage-earner.    He  has  in  view 

later  on.  The  Century  Dictionary  thus  defines  the  term  :  "A  combina- 
tion of  workmen  of  the  same  trade  or  of  several  allied  trades  for  the 
purpose  of  securing'  by  united  action  the  most  favorable  conditions  as 
regards  wages,  hours  of  labor,  etc.,  for  its  members,  every  member 
contributing  a  stated  sum  to  be  used  primarily  for  the  support  of  those 
members  who  seek  to  enforce  their  demands  by  striking,  and  also  as  a 
benefit  fund." 


18  COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES 

the  coming  uj)  of  questions  in  which  his  interests  and 
those  of  the  employer  will  be  apparently  diverse,  if 
not  directly  contrary. 

Historically,  the  trade-union  is  preponderantly  an 
institution  of  English-speaking  workingmen,  there  be- 
ing about  twice  as  many  unionists  in  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States  together  as  there  are  elsewhere.  In 
England  it  has  had  a  much  longer  life  than  in  America, 
and  there  has  thus  been  time  for  fuller  development. 
The  history  of  this  development  supplies  a  more  sub- 
stantial foundation  for  judgment  on  the  present  and  on 
the  probable  future  of  unionism  than  the  much  shorter 
record  it  has  yet  made  in  the  United  States.  The  per- 
manent and  essential  nature  of  the  movement  can  be 
more  safely  deduced  from  the  condition  and  the  char- 
acter of  the  English  trade-unions  than  from  those  of 
the  American  unions.  In  all  probability,  American 
trade-miionism  wiU  repeat  —  either  fully  or  with  some 
"  short  cuts  "  —  the  accomplished  phases  of  English 
unionism;  and  judgments,  favorable  or  unfavorable, 
upon  the  movement  here  may  well  be  tempered  by  a 
consideration  of  the  applicability  of  such  judgments  on 
the  other  side  of  the  ocean,  where  trade-unionism  is  not 
in  its  infancy  or  youth,  but  can  count  a  hundred  and 
fifty  years  of  life.  Many  American  labor  associations 
are  still  in  a  state  of  transition.  Not  yet  fully  grown, 
they  often  lack,  of  necessity,  the  wisdom  and  good 
sense  of  mature  years,  and  criticism  of  unionism  from 
the  American  standpoint  slioidd  bear  this  fact  in  mind. 
The  Englisli  trade-unions  are  more  elaborate  in  their 
organization  than  most  unions  in  the  United  States, 
and  they  have  the  reputation  of  employing  peaceful 
methods  more  often  in  the  adjustment  of  their  "  labor 


COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES 


19 


difficulties."  This  greater  elaboration  and  this  prefer- 
ence for  peacefid  methods  are  especially  conspicuous 
when  we  compare  English  unions  with  those  of  France 
or  Germany.^ 

Trade-unionism  is  one  of  the  most  important  and 
significant  movements  of  modern  times,  even  if  judged 
by  figures  alone.  At  the  end  of  1892,  according  to 
the  statistics  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  the  number  of 
trade-unionists  in  England  was  a  little  over  one  and 
one  half  millions,  organized  into  1208  unions.  Ten 
years  later,  at  the  end  of  1902,  it  was  somewhat  over 
nineteen  hundred  thousand  (1,915,506)  in  1183 
unions.2   In  the  United  States  and  Canada  there  were 

^  For  convenience'  sake,  in  treating  trade-nnionism  hereafter,  I  con- 
sider it  as  an  English  or  an  American  movement,  vyhere  special  excep- 
tion is  not  made.  England  has  been  the  teacher  of  the  worid  in  this 
method,  and  America  has  been  her  aptest  pupil. 

^  The  Labour  Gazette  for  October,  1903,  gives  the  following  table  of 
tmionists  in  the  United  Kingdom,  at  the  end  of  each  of  the  eleven 
years  1892-1902,  with  the  percentage  of  increase  or  decrease  for  each 
year  compared  with  the  preceding  year.  The  one  hundred  unions 
for  which  separate  figures  are  given  embrace  a  considerable  majority, 
it  will  be  seen,  of  the  whole  number. 


100  Principal 

other  Trade- 

AU  Trade- 

Trade- Unions. 

Unions. 

Unions. 

Tear. 

Increase 
(+)or 

Increase 
(+)or 

Increase 

(+)or 

Total. 

decrease 

(-) 
per  cent. 

Total. 

decrease 

(-) 

per  cent. 

Total. 

decrease 

(-) 
per  cent. 

1892  .... 

900,(;3G 

604.002 

1,505,238 

1893  .... 

905,049 

4-     0.5 

577,211 

—    4.5 

1 ,482,2C>0 

—    1.5 

1894  .... 

920,001 

+     1-7 

520,145 

—    9.9 

1,440,140 

—    2.8 

1895  .... 

910,404 

-     1.0 

.500,248 

—    3.8 

1,410,052 

—    2.0 

1896   ... 

958,018 

+     5.2 

539,034 

+    7.8 

1,497,052 

+    0.1 

1897   .... 

1,001,311 

+   10.8 

554,582 

-f    2.9 

1,015,893 

+    7.9 

1S98   .... 

1 ,03S,(;.sr> 

—     2.1 

ni3,:w 

-)-  10.0 

1,051,993 

fix 

1899  .... 

1,112,570 

+     7.1 

0'4,313 

-1-  13.2 

1,800,889 

li'OO   .... 

1,1.59,240 

+     4.2 

750,407 

-f    9.0 

1,915,713 

+     0,0 

1901    .... 

1,109,222 

+     0.9 

758,730 

-)-    0.3 

1,927,952 

+     0.0 

1902   .... 

1,169,333 

-f     0.0 

746,173 

—    1.6 

1,915,500 

—    O.G 

20  COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES 

on  July  1,  1901,  1,400,000  members  of  labor  organi- 
zations, according-  to  the  estimate  of  experts  of  the 
Industrial  Commission  (vol.  xvii.  part  i.  p.  xix).  In 
Germany  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  (vol.  xxxiii. 
of  1902)  gives  the  number  as  about  800,000  ;  in 
France  492,647  in  1899;  in  Austria  (end  of  1899) 
157,773  ;  in  Denmark,  96,359  on  January  1,  1900 ;  in 
Hungary,  64,000  in  1899  ;  in  Sweden,  about  60,000 
in  1902  ;  in  Norway,  24,000  ;  in  Switzerland,  49,034 
in  1899 ;  in  Belgium  from  60,000  to  70,000,  and  in 
Spain  41,558.  The  claim  is  commonly  made  that  there 
are  now  more  than  two  millions  of  trade-unionists  in 
the  United  States  and  Canada,  but  reliable  statistics 
like  those  of  the  United  Kingdom  are  wanting;  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor  reports  that  per  capita 
dues  were  paid  in  September,  1903,  on  a  membership 
of  1,745,270. 

When  we  compare  these  figures  for  England  and 
America  with  the  statistics  of  the  population  and  of 
the  working  people  in  both  countries,  they  seem  to  in- 
dicate that  some  ten  per  cent,  of  English-speaking  adult 
male  workers,  or  three  per  cent,  of  the  entire  population 
of  the  two  countries,  belonged  to  the  trade-unions  in 
1901.1  But,  if  we  exclude  other  pursuits,  perhaps  one 
fifth  of  the  male  workers  over  ten  3^ears  of  age  engaged 
in    manufacturing    and   mechanical    pursuits    in    the 

^  The  U.  S.  Census  for  1900  gives  the  whole  number  of  male  per- 
sons over  ten  years  of  age  engaged  in  gainful  occupations  as  213,754,- 
205.  Taking  the  estimated  number  of  1,400,000  trade-unionists,  and 
making  no  allowance  for  the  comparatively  small  number  of  women 
in  the  unions,  this  would  give  something  like  six  per  cent,  of  union- 
ists to  male  workers  in  this  country.  In  England  the  number  of  such 
workers  was  10,156,976  in  1901,  and  if  there  were  1,900,000  union- 
ists in  1900,  this  would  give  the  larger  percentage  of  18.7  imionists 
to  every  100  male  workers. 


COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES  21 

United  States  belonged  to  trade-unions  in  1900.  Of 
the  whole  number  of  male  wage-earners  in  the  United 
States  in  1900,  over  ten  years  of  age,  there  were  only 
some  six  per  cent,  organized  in  imions. 

But  these  percentages  do  not  sufficiently  represent 
the  strength  of  the  movement,  for  in  England  and  the 
United  States,  to  go  no  farther,  the  trade-unionists 
embrace  the  majority  of  the  men  employed  in  some 
of  the  most  important  trades,  such  as  engineering,  the 
textile  industries,  and  coal  mining.^  In  all  the  trades 
which  are  well  organized  the  unionists  probably  include 
the  larger  number  of  the  most  intelligent  and  the 
most  competent  artisans.  For  example,  the  printers' 
unions  are  said  to  be  by  far  the  strongest  everywhere, 
embracing  from  seventy-five  to  ninety  per  cent,  of 
American  workingmen  in  this  field  of  work  ;  the  high 
standing  of  the  printers  for  general  intelligence  is  well 
known.  On  the  other  hand,  unskilled  laborers  every- 
where are  the  most  poorly  organized.  Trade-imionism, 
again,  is  an  increasing  force,  as  the  gain  of  twenty- 
seven  per  cent,  in  Great  Britain  between  1892  and 
1902  shows  forcibly.  The  increase  of  numbers  in  the 
United  States  has  been  large  in  1901-1903.  Great 
variations  in  the  size  of  the  unions  have  ajrain  and 
again  taken  place  m  their  history,  and  this  is  due 
largely  to  the  goodness  or  the  badness  of  the  times.^ 

^  "  Over  69  per  cent,  of  the  total  membership  is  found  in  the  build- 
ing, mining  and  quarrying,  metal,  engineering,  and  shipbuilding  and 
textile  trades.  The  mining  and  quarrying  trades  alone  contain  520,- 
000,  or  27  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of  trade-unionists  in  the 
United  Kingdom."  —  Labour  Gazette  for  October,  1903. 

2  "  Among  the  non-unionists  in  the  skilled  trades  a  large  proportion 
have  at  one  time  or  another  belonged  to  these  societies.  Though  they 
have  let  their  membership  lapse  for  one  reason  or  another,  they  fol- 
low the  lead  of  the  union,  and  are  mostly  ready,  on  the  slightest  en- 


22  COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES 

Trade-unionism  in  truth  is  thus  entitled  to  speak  for  a 
large  part  of  the  working  population  with  no  uncertain 
voice,  and  the  fruits  of  the  victories  it  wins  are  shared 
by  the  great  body  of  workpeople  outside  of  the  unions.^ 

couragement  from  its  members  or  improvement  in  their  own  posi- 
tion, to  rejoin  an  organization  to  which  in  spirit  they  still  belong.  In 
the  labour  unions  the  instability  of  employment  and  the  constant 
shifting  of  residence  cause  the  organization  to  resemble  a  sieve  through 
which  a  perpetual  stream  of  members  is  flowing,  a  small  proportion 
only  remaining  attached  for  any  length  of  time."  —  History  of  Trade- 
Unionism,  p.  430. 

^  It  is  interesting  to  note  that,  so  far,  women  have  played  an  incon- 
spicuous part  in  the  movement.  In  Great  Britain  in  1892  the  number 
of  women  in  the  imions  was  about  100,000,  and  eight  years  later  there 
were  122,047.  This  is  a  small  increase,  considering  the  large  number 
of  women  yet  to  be  organized.  Only  6^  per  cent,  of  the  whole  num- 
ber of  women  employed  in  1900  were  represented  by  these  122,047 
workers.  The  increase  between  these  two  years  was  almost  entirely 
confined  to  the  textile  trades.  The  other  female  workers  organized 
number  only  13,000.  One  hundred  and  thirty-nine  unions  included 
women  and  girls  as  members  in  1902,  the  total  number  of  whom  at 
the  end  of  the  year  was  122,128,  as  compared  with  120,409,  in  one 
hundred  and  forty-six  unions,  at  the  end  of  1901.  In  America  the  pro- 
portion of  women  trade-unionists  is  much  smaller. 

In  many  of  the  unions  men  and  women  workers  are  admitted  on  equal 
terms.  "  The  boilermakers  admit  only  males,  but  they  are  not  likely 
to  have  applications  from  women.  The  bakers  specially  forbid  any 
distinction  on  account  of  '  race,  sex,  creed,  or  nationality.'  The  re- 
tail clerks,  the  cigarmakers,  and  the  tobacco  workers  admit  men  and 
women  on  the  same  footing.  One  or  two  unions  give  women  the  advan- 
tage of  lower  initiation  fees  and  lower  dues."  —  Report  of  the  Industrial 
Commission,  vol.  xvii.  p.  xxix.  Women  are  also  admitted  by  the  boot 
and  shoemakers,  the  printers,  bookbinders,  and  potters. 

According  to  Dr.  Willett's  excellent  monograph  (The  Employment 
of  Women  in  the  Clothing  Trade,  by  Mabel  Hurd  Willett,  Ph.  D  ;  vol. 
xvi.  No.  2  of  Columbia  University  Studies  in  History,  Economics,  and 
Public  Law,  1902,  pp.  1C8  f.), "  Two  industries,  —  cigarmaking  and  the 
manufacture  of  clothing.  —  are  practically  the  only  ones  in  this  coun- 
try in  which  women  have  been  organized  in  large  nunibei"s.  The 
United  Garment  Workers  claim  both  a  larger  number  and  a  greater 
proportion  of  women  than  are  to  be  found  in  any  other  national  union." 
In  the  determination  of  the  general  policy  of  this  body  "the  women 
have  had  little,  if  any,  influence, "  but  in  the  formation  and  conduct 


COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES 


23 


A  notable  fact  of  present-day  trade-unionism  is  its 
financial  strength.  The  funds  of  one  hundred  prin- 
cipal trade-unions  in  Great  Britain  were  reported  by 
the  English  Labour  Department  at  the  end  of  1902 
to  amount  to  nearly  four  and  a  liaK  millions  of 
pounds  sterling  (122,500,000),  "  a  sum  quite  without 
precedent  in  the  history  of  labor  m  any  country." 
Their  income  for  the  same  year  was  over  two  mil- 
lion pounds  (j£2, 109,656),  and  the  expenditures  were 
<£1,814,727.^  According  to  the  ammal  report  of  the 
trade-union  that  was  most  conspicuous  in  the  United 
States  in  1902,  —  the  United  Mine  Workers,  —  there 


of  women's  unions,  women  themselves  are  now  much  more  influential 
than  men.  The  most  powerful  influence  tending'  this  way  is  the  union 
label.  "  Social  gatherings  of  various  kinds  are  extremely  helpful,  if 
not  absolutely  essential,  to  the  retention  of  the  interest  of  the  ma- 
jority of  women  members,  during  the  prolonged  periods  when  they 
are  working  for  no  direct  and  immediate  economic  advantage." 

^  This  table  from  the  Labour  Gazette  of  October,  1903,  gives  the 
figures  for  1892-1902,  showing  the  great  gains  of  the  period. 


Income. 

Expenditure. 

Funds  at  end  of 
Year. 

Member- 

Year. 

ship 
at  End 
of  Year. 

Amount. 

Per 
Mem- 

Amount. 

Per 
Mem- 

Amount. 

Per 
Mem- 

ber. 

ber. 

ber. 

£ 

8.      d. 

£ 

8.     d. 

£ 

8.    d. 

1892 

900,636 

1,464,440 

32    6i 

1,432,871 

31    93 

1,576,280 

35    0 

1893 

905,049 

1,617,968 

35    9 

1,839,118 

40    7J 

l,a55,130 

29  m 

1894 

920,001 

1,623,409 

35    U 

1,427,033 

31    Oi 

1.550,906 

33    8i 

1895 

910,404 

1,548,251 

34    OJ 

l,;!S'i,037 

30    4i 

1,717,120 

37     8| 
44  11} 

1896 

958,018 

1,063,268 

34    8^( 

1,225,619 

25    7 

2,154,769 

1897 

1,001,311 

1,986,476 

37     5J 

1,912,081 

36     Oi 

2,229,164 

42    0 

1898 

1,038,686 

1,917,310 

30  n 

1,498,776 

28  \0\ 

2,647,698 

50  llj 

1899 

1,112,576 

1,848,479 

33    25 

1,270,673 

22  10 

3,225,.')04 

57  llj 

1900 

1,159,240 

1,962,981 

33  lOi 

1,557,582 

25    3} 

3,720,903 

64    2i 

1901 

1,169,222 

2,000,874 

35     3 

1,652,110 

28    3 

4,129,667 

70    7^ 

190'2 

1,169,333 

2,109,656 

36     1 

1,814,727 

31    Oi 

4,424,596 

75    8^ 

In  the  period  covered  by  the  table,  the  funds  of  the  100  unions 
have  increased  181  per  cent,  on  the  aggregate  of  1892,  and  110  per 
cent,  on  the  amount  of  funds  per  head  iu  that  year. 


24  COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES 

were  on  the  1st  of  January,  1903,  over  a  miUion  dol- 
lars in  its  treasury  (11,027,120.29).  The  members 
gave  to  the  relief  of  the  anthracite  coal  strikers  in 
1902  more  than  a  quarter  miUion  dollars  (1258,- 
343.94),  and  they  raised  by  assessments  nearly  two 
milhon  dollars  (11,967,026.34),  —  making  something 
like  two  and  a  quarter  million  dollars  (12,225,370.28) 
raised  with  prime  reference  to  the  anthracite  coal 
strike  by  the  United  Mine  Workers  of  this  country. 
Labor  organizations  can  now  "  talk  in  millions,"  as 
well  as  magnates  of  Wall  Street. 

The  history  of  trade-unionism  in  its  classic  land  has 
been  admirably  written  by  Sidney  and  Beatrice  Webb 
(1894;  second  edition,  1902),  and  the  less  striking 
developments  in  this  country  have  been  presented  in 
the  composite  volume  edited  by  Mr.  George  E. 
McNeill,  entitled,  "  The  Labor  Movement  in  the  United 
States  "  (1887),  by  Professor  R.  T.  Ely  in  his  book  on 
"  The  Labor  Movement  in  America  "  (1886),  and  by 
Hon.  Carroll  D.  Wright  in  his  work  on  the  "  Indus- 
trial Evolution  of  the  United  States  "  (1895).  It  was 
for  a  time  the  fashion  to  discover  the  origin  of  the 
unions  in  the  craft  gilds  of  the  Middle  Ages  ;  but  these 
gilds  were  associations  of  masters,  not  of  their  men 
(certainly  not  of  the  men  alone),  and  no  historical  con- 
nection between  the  gilds  and  the  unions  can  be  traced. 
Between  various  workingmen's  associations  of  the  fif- 
teenth and  sixteenth  centuries,  referred  to  by  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Webb,  and  our  modern  trade-unions  there  are  some 
features  of  likeness,  but  of  lineal  relationship  there  is 
here  aofain  no  sisTi.  These  associations  seem  to  have 
died  out  before  the  unions  came  into  existence.  The 
actual  origin  of  the  trade-unions  was  very  simple  and 


COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES  25 

very  natural.  In  the  middle  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  the  wage  system  and  the  factory  regime  had 
brought  together  large  bodies  of  working  people  on  a 
scale  previously  unknown  in  the  industrial  history  of 
mankind.  Nothing  could  be  more  natural  than  the 
occasional  or  temporary  combination  of  considerable 
numbers  of  men  employed  in  the  same  industry,  in  the 
same  place,  by  the  same  master,  perhaps  imder  the  same 
I'oof .  Seeing  how  common  it  is  to  form  associations  in 
general,  we  have  a  right  to  say  that  the  workingman 
would  not  be  a  social  being  if  he  did  not  associate  in 
such  ways.  There  is  no  call  to  seek  profound  reasons 
why  men  have  made  labor  combinations  in  the  indus- 
trial world.  The  good  results  of  temporary  associa- 
tions must  have  been  immediately  obvious.  In  England 
the  workingmen  of  the  eighteenth  century  desired 
better  conditions  of  work  and  higher  wages,  and  the 
advisability  of  uniting  for  this  purpose  was  seen  by 
those  who  took  part  in  the  first  movements.  So  we 
learn  of  trade-unions  which  were  organized  temporarily 
in  the  English  manufacturing  towns  in  the  fii'st  half 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  Workingmen  soon  organ- 
ized into  regular  and  permanent  societies,  elected  a  body 
of  officers,  and  laid  more  or  less  regular  assessments. 
Thus,  as  the  years  went  on,  they  would  have  a  con- 
siderable sum  at  their  command,  in  the  treasury  of  the 
union.  But  it  is  important  to  remember  that  these 
early  societies  in  the  English  towns  were  sunply  local 
institutions ;  in  their  organization  there  would  of 
course  be  much  to  criticise  from  the  standpoint  of  to- 
day. 

The  growth  of  the  English  trade-unions,  when  mea- 
sured by  periods  of  some  size,  is  seen  to  have  been  con- 


26  COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES 

stant,  and  their  development  has  gone  on  naturally,  but 
their  early  career  was  marked  by  much  persecution. 
The  denial  of  the  right  of  laborers  to  combifie  was  a 
conspicuous  feature  of  EngHsh  common  law  from  the 
Middle  Ages  onward.  From  the  Statute  of  Labourers, 
passed  in  1351,  and  the  Statute  of  Apprentices,  passed 
in  1563  and  repealed  as  late  as  1813,  not  less  than 
thirty  express  statutes  were  passed  down  to  1825, 
which,  among  other  enactments,  made  the  association 
of  workingmen  criminal.  Workpeople  were  even  for- 
bidden to  assemble  in  order  to  discuss  wage  questions 
in  the  smallest  detail,  or  working  hours,  or  contracts, 
or  to  induce  their  fellow-workingmen  to  join  them  in 
any  way,  to  increase  wages  or  better  their  condition. 
Taken  literally,  these  laws  treated  with  impartiality  the 
relation  between  employer  and  employee;  what  they 
allowed  to  one  party,  they  allowed  to  the  other ;  what 
they  forbade  for  one,  they  forbade  for  the  other  ;  but, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  law  had  a  very  poor  vision  for 
employers  acting  together  ;  and  employers  were  never 
fined,  much  less  imprisoned.  There  has  been  no  dis- 
tinct and  explicit  legislation,  in  fact,  for  restraining 
the  employer ;  the  law,  the  judge,  and  the  jury  have 
been  chiefly  concerned  with  the  workpeople. 

But  we  have  to  bear  in  mind,  as  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Webb  so  clearly  point  out  ("  History  of  Trade-Union- 
ism,"  pp.  41  f.),  that  the  policy  of  the  earlier  labor 
legislation  of  England  was  one  of  paternalism.  It  was 
entirely  in  keeping  with  the  mediaeval  system  that 
workingmen  should  be  kept  in  their  due  place  by  legal 
authority ;  that  their  movements  from  town  to  town 
should  be  supervised  ;  that  their  wages  should  be  pre- 
scribed by  the  justice  of  the  peace,  and  that  refusal 


COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES  27 

to  work  for  these  wages  should  be  severely  punished. 
The  ideal  of  the  just  relations  of  "  master  and  serv- 
ant "  (to  use  the  phraseology  of  the  time)  included  the 
strict  regulation  of  workpeople  by  specific  laws,  which 
were  enacted  largely  in  the  interest  of  the  employer  and 
the  public.  Workingmen,  considered  an  inferior  order 
of  society,  were  not  allowed,  therefore,  to  make  de- 
mands for  the  bettering  of  their  condition  which  Par- 
liament considered  objectionable ;  at  the  same  time, 
the  law  protected  the  workingmen  against  great  oppres- 
sion by  the  master.  Early  and  mediaeval  English  law 
contained  numerous  statutes  in  the  interest  of  em- 
ployees. The  desire  of  legislators  was  to  furnish  the 
workingmen  decent  conditions  of  life.  The  law  for- 
bade their  combining  for  the  purpose  of  demanding 
higher  wages  and  shorter  hours ;  but  it  also  forbade 
employers  injuring  or  harassing  them  in  various  ways. 
The  ruling  idea  was  the  maintenance  of  the  status  quo 
in  the  lot  of  the  employer  as  well  as  in  that  of  the 
employee. 

A  great  change  of  thought  gradually  took  place  as 
the  factory  system  came  in.  The  "  mdustrial  revolu- 
tion "  profoundly  disturbed  the  former  conceptions  of 
paternal  government.  The  manufacturer  wished  for 
entire  freedom  in  fixing  wages  and  hours,  and  it  was 
the  natural  result  that  the  workingman  was  left  to 
take  care  of  himself.  The  principle  of  laissez  faire 
was  fvdly  recognized  on  the  side  of  the  employer,  but 
it  was  not  until  1757  that  the  repeal  of  the  parlia- 
mentary statute  of  1756  providing  for  the  fixing  of 
piecework  prices  for  weavers  by  the  justices  marked 
distinctively  the  passage  from  the  old  system  of  pro- 
tecting the  workingman  to  a  more  modern  "  admin  is- 


28  COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES 

trative  niliilism."  Somerset  workmen  twenty  years 
later  found  themselves  very  much  mjured  by  the  intro- 
duction of  the  spinning-jenny.  Parliament  was  stren- 
uously petitioned  to  prohibit  the  use  of  it.  On  this 
point  the  employers  had  a  perfectly  good  case  against 
the  working-man,  as  the  introduction  of  novel  machin- 
ery was  a  forward  step  not  to  be  prohibited.  But,  as 
all  know,  the  most  trying  of  industrial  situations  is  the 
time  immediately  following  the  adoption  of  improved 
machinery,  continuing  until  the  workmen  get  fully 
adjusted  to  the  new  conditions  through  the  enlarge- 
ment of  the  market,  famiharization  with  the  new 
methods,  and  the  finding  of  employment  in  other  lines. 
Parliament  in  this  case  rejected  the  petition  of  the 
workingmeu,  but  made  no  sufficient  arrangement  for 
their  readjustment  to  the  new  situation. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century  we  can 
see  plainly  that  ordinary  justice  demanded  that  Par- 
liament, in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
should  grant  to  workingmeu  the  fullest  right  to  combi- 
nation in  their  own  interests.  This  would  have  been 
a  logical  application  of  the  new  policy  coming  into 
vogaie.  It  would  have  given  the  employee,  what 
everybody  now  sees  is  an  essential  of  real  competition, 
freedom  to  become  equal  with  the  employers  as  a  con- 
tracting party.  But  the  prohibition  of  combination, 
which  had  so  long  been  the  policy  of  England,  w^as 
illogicaUy  continued  by  Parliament,  as  it  did  not  real- 
ize the  inequity  of  such  a  provision.  We  must,  how- 
ever, beware  of  a  too  common  impression  that  all 
English  workingmeu,  from  this  time  on,  were  utterly 
prohibited  from  forming  or  joining  trade-unions,  and 
were  treated  consistently  and  constantly  as  criminals. 


COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES  29 

Like  so  many  other  sweeping  statements  in  the  com- 
mon histories  of  trade-unions,  this  assertion  must  be 
materially  qualified.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  WeLb  have  shown, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  that  from  1757  to  1799  some  com- 
binations of  workingmen,  at  least,  were  always  known 
to  exist  and  were  not  disturbed  by  the  law.  The  at- 
titude of  Parliament  toward  labor  problems  in  the 
second  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  to  do  it  com- 
plete justice,  should  be  said  to  have  been  one  of  per- 
plexity, and  we  can  understand  it  better  if  we  consider 
its  attitude  toward  railways  in  the  third  quarter  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  or  the  attitude  of  our  CongTess 
and  legislatures  toward  trusts  in  the  last  quarter.  In 
England  the  precedents  were  too  strong  to  allow  Par- 
liament to  do  justice  to  the  principle  of  combination  of 
workingmen,  now  obvious,  but  then  very  novel.  Dur- 
ing the  first  war  with  Napoleon,  and  under  a  prodi- 
gious extension  of  the  manufacturmg  system.  Parlia- 
ment passed  the  Combination  Act  of  1799,  a  drastic 
measure.  Any  combination  of  workingmen  had  been  a 
criminal  conspiracy  before  that  time.  But  the  actual 
relations  of  employers  and  employees  had  been  grow- 
ing more  free,  allowing  the  employer  and  bodies  of 
workingmen  to  bargain  together  without  any  interfer- 
ence by  the  law  in  favor  of  the  employer  or  the  work- 
ingmen, as  in  former  days.  Under  such  conditions  it 
was  a  gross  injustice  to  prohibit  workingmen  from 
joining  together  for  mutual  aid  and  the  betterment  of 
their  condition. 

The  principal  use  of  this  law  of  1799  made  by  the 
Enoiish  manufacturer  was  to  hinder  men  from  striking 
by  forcing  them,  before  they  were  employed,  to  sign  a 
contract  not  to  combine  against  the  employer  for  any 


30  COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES 

purpose  whatever.  The  earlier  chapters  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Webb's  history  furnish  numerous  instances  of  the 
pronounced  injustice  and  tyranny  with  which  the  law 
was  applied.  In  1817,  for  instance,  the  constables  of 
the  town  of  Bolton  heard  that  ten  delegates  of  the 
calico  printers  were  about  to  meet  to  consider  the  wages 
paid  in  the  calico  industry.  Officers  of  the  law  arrested 
the  men  at  once  as  conspirators,  and  they  were  sent  to 
prison  for  three  months  as  criminals,  although  no  dis- 
pute was  pending  at  the  time  concerning  the  wages  to 
be  paid  in  the  occupation.  Then  we  may  read  of  the 
imprisonment  in  1812  of  the  central  committee  of  the 
Scottish  weavers  for  periods  ranging  from  four  to  eigh- 
teen months,  because  they  were  directing  a  strike  to 
obtain  the  wages  which  the  justice  of  the  peace  had 
fixed,  but  the  employers  refused  to  give.  Such  was 
the  not  infrequent  fate  of  men  who  assembled  in  the 
most  informal  manner  to  discuss  matters  of  wages  and 
hours  of  work.  On  the  other  hand  and  not  unnaturally, 
there  has  been  from  the  beginning  of  trade-unionism 
a  constant  association  with  the  movement  of  a  larger 
or  smaller  amoimt  of  threatenmg  and  violence,  espe- 
cially in  the  treatment  of  non-unionists  by  unionists.^ 
The  extreme  injustice  practised  under  the  combina- 
tion laws  brought  about  a  movement  for  the  repeal  of 
these  laws,  especially  that  of  1799,  and  the  legalization 
in  1824  of  the  combination  of  workingmen.^  Although 
an  Act  of  1825  repealed  this  Act  of  1824,  it  allowed 
workingmen  to  combine  for  the  purpose  of  shortening 

^  A  reflection  of  this  misuse  of  force  may  be  seen  in  two  power- 
ful novels,  —  Mrs.  Gaskell's  Mary  Barton,  and  Charles  Reade's  Put 
Yourself  in  His  Place. 

2  See  the  Life  of  Francis  Place,  by  Graham  Wallas. 


COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES  31 

hours  of  work  or  of  putting  up  wages.  All  other  com- 
binations were  left  under  the  ban,  and  it  was  some 
fifty  years  before  trade-unions  were  completely  legal- 
ized. In  the  meantime  the  "  presentation  of  the  doc- 
ument," before  alluded  to,  was  not  condemned  by  the 
law,  and  it  played  an  important  part  in  the  history  of 
the  unions  after  1825.  In  the  long  story  of  the  sub- 
sequent ups  and  downs  of  trade-unions  we  are  not 
surprised  to  discover  that,  when  they  were  especially 
prosperous  (as  in  1833),  they  were  also  arbitrary  and 
dictatorial ;  and  that  when  the  employers  were  in  a 
particularly  strong  condition,  they  in  turn  were  tyran- 
nical. Frequently,  although  combination  was  permitted 
by  the  law  of  the  land,  men  were  arrested  for  making 
slight  efforts  toward  a  trade-union  policy  which  would 
pass  without  notice  at  the  present  day,  and  judges  for  a 
long  time  construed  the  law  with  a  strong  bias  toward 
employers,  and  imposed  extreme  penalties,  even  to  the 
extent  of  transportation,  as  in  the  infamous  case  of  the 
Dorchester  laborers  in  1834.  Laws  of  minor  consequence 
adverse  to  trade-unions  were  in  course  of  time  gradually 
repealed  as  public  opinion  became  more  favorable.  Yet 
not  until  1871,  only  thirty-three  years  ago,  was  a  bill 
passed  by  Parliament  fully  legalizing  the  trade-unions. 
Four  years  later  employers  and  workingmen  first  stood 
on  the  same  footing  before  the  English  law,  when  the 
^'  Master  and  Servant  "  Act  of  1867  was  repealed  and 
the  "  Employer  and  Workman  "  Act  finally  equalized 
the  two  parties  to  this  civil  contract.  The  triumph 
of  the  new  ideas  of  democracy  was  shown  in  the  very 
title  of  the  new  Act.  The  undefined  words  "coerce"  and 
"  molest  "  which  had  been  employed  in  the  former  Act 
to  the  great  vexation  of  trade-unionists,  were  omitted  ; 


32  COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES 

thereafter  no  act  committed  by  a  body  of  workingmen 
could  be  considered  illegal  unless  the  same  act  was 
wrong  before  the  law  if  committed  by  a  single  work- 
ingman.i 

We  are  not  then  to  forget  this  important  fact,  which 
has  had  a  great  influence  upon  the  thoughts  and  feel- 
ings of  trade-unionists  even  to  the  present  time,  that 
trade-unions  in  England  were  until  1875  more  or  less 
illegal  bodies,  and  that  down  to  a  comparatively  recent 
date  they  were  only  tolerated.  This  fact,  which  will 
excuse  this  rehearsal  of  a  familiar  tale,  explains  many 
phenomena  otherwise  inexplicable  in  the  position  of 
the  trade-unions  of  to-day,  especially  the  feelings  enter- 
tained by  the  typical  unionist  toward  the  courts  and 
toward  the  political  economists  as  a  body.  The  law 
courts  for  generations  in  England  enforced  a  policy  of 
repression,  which,  as  we  can  see  to-day,  was  thoroughly 
unfair  and  entirely  out  of  keeping  with  the  changed 
conditions  of  industry.  The  economists  generally  up- 
held the  policy  of  the  employers  as  a  course  strictly 
demanded  by  economic  law.  Mr.  W.  T.  Thornton  was 
the  first  economist  of  repute  to  champion  vigorously 
the  opposite  position  in  1870  in  his  volume  "  On  La- 
bour," which  rejected  the  doctrine  of  the  wage  fund, 
and  showed  that  the  real  principle  of  population  is  not 
that  stated  by  the  economists.  Since  then  the  econ- 
omists have  been  steadily  going  over  to  the  side  of  the 
workingman  in  his  contest  for  freedom  of  association 
with  his  fellows,  and  his  perfect  right  to  combine  in 
trade-unions  has  become  an  axiom  in  economic  science. 

^  This  story,  told  many  times,  has  been  lately  recited  by  John 
Mitchell  in  Organized  Labor,  chs.  v.,  vi.,  and  by  George  L.  Bolen  in 
Getting  a  Living,  ch.  -vii. 


COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES  33 

This  has  been  a  notable  triumph  for  the  trade-unionists, 
but  they  have  made  too  much  of  it  and  have  retained 
their  animosity  toward  the  economist  while  he  now 
holds  a  fairer  attitude  toward  their  efforts  to  improve 
their  condition.^ 

In  the  United  States  the  liistory  of  trade-unions  has 
followed  a  different  line  of  development.  There  has 
been  no  period  of  mediaeval  conditions,  and  no  trace 
can  be  found  in  the  colonial  period  of  the  existence  of 
a  trade-union,  as  there  were  no  factories.  After  the 
rise  of  the  factory  system,  local  unions  came  into  being 
between  1800  and  1825.  The  details  of  their  simple 
constitution  may  be  found  in  the  works  of  Professor 
Ely  and  Hon.  Carroll  D.  Wright.^  In  the  earlier 
part  of  the  last  century  the  workman's  day  was  long, 
his  wages  were  small,  and  the  factories  in  New  England 
and  elsewhere  put  in  force  many  oppressive  rules  and 
regulations.  The  combination  laws  of  England  were 
brought  to  this  country  under  the  shelter  of  the  com- 
mon law,  and  the  old  theory  of  conspiracy  was  usually 
maintained  by  the  courts.  The  social  forces  of  the  day 
were  hostile  to  the  infant  trade-union  movement,  and 
employers,  as  a  rule,  were  bitter  in  their  animosity. 
A  meeting  of  merchants  and  ship  owners,  for  instance, 
was  held  in  Boston  on  May  15,  1832,  to  "discounte- 
nance and  check  the  unlawful  combinations  formed  to 
control  the  freedom  of  individuals  as  to  the  hours  of 
labor  and  to  thwart  and  embarrass  those  by  whom 

^  See  Industrial  Democracy,  part  iii.  chapter  i.,  "  The  Verdict  of 
the  Economists."  The  scripturally  inclined  may  he  moved  to  remem- 
ber that  sometimes  things  are  hidden  from  the  wise  and  understanding 
and  revealed  unto  babes. 

2  The  Labor  Movement  in  America,  by  Richard  T.  Ely,  188G ;  The  In- 
dustrial Evolution  of  the  United  States,  by  Carroll  D.  Wright,  1895. 


34  COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES 

they  are  employed  and  liberally  paid."  It  was  resolved 
that  no  journeymen  should  be  employed  who  belonged 
to  any  such  combination,  and  that  no  work  should  be 
given  to  any  master  mechanic  who  employed  them 
while  they  were  so  pledged  to  each  other  and  refused 
to  work  the  customary  hours  for  mechanics.  This 
meeting  subscribed  $20,000  for  the  purpose  of  fight- 
ing the  movement  for  the  ten-hour  day.  Such  men, 
however,  as  Horace  Mann,  Robert  Rantoul,  James  G. 
Carter,  and  Wendell  Phillips  sided  with  the  work- 
people. Rantoul  defended  the  journeymen  boot-makers 
in  an  important  case,  which  was  decided  for  them  in 
1842  and  finally  established  the  right  of  workingmen 
to  combine.  Many  trade-imions  were  organized  on  a 
national  basis  in  the  ten  years  1850-1860.  The  Civil 
War  interrupted  for  a  time  the  natural  development 
of  unionism,  but  the  years  immediately  following  the 
war  witnessed  the  beginnings  of  national  unions  of 
the  locomotive  engineers,  the  railway  conductors,  the 
cigar  makers,  and  the  iron  and  steel  workers. 

The  detailed  history  of  trade-unionism  in  America 
shows  that  the  opposition  which  the  unions  have 
had  to  encounter  here  has  been  comparatively  slight 
beside  the  persecutions  suffered  in  England.  The 
right  of  combination  has  been  practically  conceded  by 
the  law  since  trade-unions  became  important  in  this 
country,  and  they  have  been  expressly  recognized  as 
legal  for  the  last  sixty  years.  Commissioner  Wright 
once  gave  as  reasons  for  the  slower  development  of 
trade-unionism  in  the  United  States,  the  democratic 
temper  of  the  people,  the  mobility  of  labor,  and  the 
independence  of  the  mechanic.  But  American  trade- 
unions  have  strengthened  greatly  in  recent  years  and 


COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES  35 

are  likely  to  hold  much  of  this  gain.^  In  this  demo- 
cratic country  public  opinion  is  almost  everywhere 
favorable  to  labor  organization,  and  the  number  of 
employers  who  dispute  in  any  way  the  right  of  com- 
bination is  steadily  decreasing. 

A  minute  description  of  the  working  of  the  trade- 
union  would  be  out  of  place  in  this  volume,  but  a  brief 
sketch  of  its  principal  features  will  serve  our  purpose.^ 
The  local  trade-union  is  a  thoroughly  democratic  organ- 
ization originating  among  the  workmen  of  a  particular 
craft ;  it  is  the  unit  from  the  union  of  a  number  of 
which  the  national  union  arises.  The  national  union, 
once  formed,  originates  local  unions  through  its  organ- 
izers, but  the  self-originated  "  local  "  (as  it  is  com- 
monly called  in  the  trade-union  world)  is  the  typical 
form.  Usually  seven  workers  of  the  same  craft  must 
join  together  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  union ; 
there  may  be  several  unions  in  one  place,  united  by  a 
"district  council,"  made  up  of  delegates  from  the 
locals.  The  local  is  self-governing,  and  it  regards  the 
national  union  as  a  federation  having  only  the  powers 
conferred  on  it  by  its  constitution.  The  local  deter- 
mines the  wages  and  the  hours  to  be  demanded  of  em- 
ployers in  the  place.  It  fixes  the  nmnber  of  apprentices 
to  be  allowed,  the  initiation  fees,  the  regular  dues, 
the  special  assessments,  and  the  fines  to  be  collected 
of  members. 

Men  and  women  are  admitted  to  the  union  on  an 

••■  American  unionists  claim  to-day  that  they  are  more  numerous 
than  those  of  the  United  Kingdom. 

^  The  only  account  known  to  me  of  trade-union  life  from  the  inside 
is  Mr.  F.  W.  Galton's  animated  narrative,  based  on  his  own  experience, 
given  in  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb's  History,  pp.  431-451,  4r)G^58.  The 
statements  of  trade-union  practice  made  in  the  text  refer  to  the  ma- 
jority of  American  unions. 


36  COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES 

equality  where  both  sexes  j)ractice  the  trade.  Negroes 
can  become  members  of  any  union  except  the  railroad 
brotherhoods,  so  far  as  the  theory  of  trade-miionism 
is  concerned  ;  but,  practically,  separate  locals  for  the 
white  and  the  colored  workers  have  been  found  neces- 
sary, and  in  some  places  separate  city  federations.  Two 
members  of  a  union  usually  endorse  the  written  appli- 
cation for  membership,  which  is  referred  to  a  com- 
mittee to  report  at  a  later  meeting.  The  candidate  is 
admitted  by  a  majority,  or  a  two-thirds  vote.  He  must 
either  be  actually  employed  m  the  trade  or  have  had  a 
certain  term  of  service  in  it,  which  varies  according  to 
the  amount  of  skill  required.  "  In  many  small-scale 
industries  independent  workers  and  small  employers 
may  be  admitted."  Naturally,  no  such  person  is  allowed 
to  belong  to  an  employers'  association  also.  As  a  rule, 
there  is  little  formality  about  the  initiation  of  new 
members.  They  give  a  pledge  to  obey  the  laws  of  the 
union,  and  promise  to  keep  its  proceedings  secret,  to 
help  fellow-members  to  employment,  and  not  to  wrong 
them  or  allow  them  to  be  wronged.^  Travelmg  and 
transfer  cards  of  membership  are  issued  by  all  national 
unions.  New  members  pay  an  entrance  fee  usually 
ranging  from  one  dollar  to  five  dollars  in  amount,  and 
the  montlily  fee  varies  from  twenty-five  to  fifty  cents ; 
in  case  of  delinquency  in  payment  of  the  regular  dues, 
the  member  can  be  suspended  or  dropped,  although 
this  rarely  happens.  To  gain  admission  to  the  place  of 
meeting  a  password  is  usually  given.  Meetings  are 
held  at  least  as  frequently  as  once  a  month,  often  fort- 
nightly. 

1  The  oath  taken  by  new  members  of  the  typographical  unions  has 
been  the  subject  of  much  comment  recently. 


COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES  37 

The  usual  officers  are  elected  every  six  months,  and 
rotation  in  office  is  the  common  practice.  This  applies 
even  to  the  most  important  position  to  be  filled,  that 
of  the  "  business  agent  "  or  "  walking  delegate,"  al- 
though he  can  be  reelected  for  several  terms  ;  his 
powers  are  comparatively  great  and  his  temptations  are 
in  proportion,  as  we  shall  see.  There  are  comparatively 
few  walking  delegates,  as  only  strong  unions  have  the 
funds  required  to  pay  his  salary,  and  he  is  not  at  all 
necessary  in  many  trades.  The  office  plays  an  espe- 
cially large  part  in  the  building  trades.  The  officials 
of  a  local  union  have  little  authority  of  independent 
action.  "  In  general,  every  question,  from  the  ordering 
of  a  strike  to  the  buying  of  an  account  book,  is  decided 
by  vote  of  the  members  in  full  meeting."  This  fact 
may  serve  to  explain  why  so  much  time  is  spent  in 
weekly  or  fortnightly  meetings,  in  periods  of  industrial 
quiet.  Considered  simply  as  business  bodies,  the  unions 
suffer  from  too  much  democracy  and  too  little  applica- 
tion of  the  representative  principle  and  the  committee 
method.  Of  the  union  officers,  only  business  agents  re- 
ceive pay,  and  this  is  but  the  equivalent  of  the  wages 
that  they  would  earn  at  their  trade.  Every  trade-union 
document  must  be  stamped  with  its  special  seal.  "  No- 
where else,  outside  of  formal  legal  proceedings,  does  the 
use  of  the  seal  maintain  so  large  a  place  in  our  motlern 
life." 

The  local  unions  have  first  charge  of  their  internal 
discipline.  The  offenses  they  deal  with  are  those  which 
may  be  committed  against  the  peace  and  order  of  associ- 
ations in  general  and  of  their  meetings,  and  specifically, 
"  undermining  "  other  members  concerning  any  condi- 
tions of  work,  or  supplanting  them  ;  breaking  the  pledge 


432957 


38  COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES 

of  secrecy ;  or  "  advocating  the  dissolution  of  a  local 
union,  or  division  of  the  funds,  or  separation  of  it  from 
the  national  union."  Among  the  general  moral  demands 
made  by  the  unions  on  their  members  the  requirements 
in  regard  to  the  liquor  habit  are  most  important.  The 
ordinary  union  is  not,  of  course,  a  temperance  organi- 
zation, but  Mr.  E..  W.  Bemis,  who  has  investigated 
the  attitude  of  the  unions  toward  the  saloon,  has  found 
that  they  "  are  a  greater  factor  in  developing  temperate 
living  than  has  been  supposed."  ^  On  the  whole,  Mr. 
Bemis's  figures  and  quotations  show  a  large  influence 
of  the  unions  in  encouraging  temperate  habits  among 
their  members.  It  is  noticeable  that  "  fraud  against 
outsiders  is  not  punishable  "  under  any  of  the  national 
criminal  codes  of  the  unions,  and  that  violence  in  the 
conduct  of  strikes  is  not  set  dowm  among  the  offenses 
leading  to  exj)ulsion.  General  phrases  like  "  the  com- 
mission of  any  act  which  tends  to  bring  the  union  into 
discredit "  do  not  point  to  severity  in  discipline.  In 
the  local  unions  the  officers  give  bonds,  but  they 
usually  have  charge  of  only  a  few  hmidreds  of  dollars. 
Assessments  are  laid  and  voluntary  contributions  are 
requested  in  strike-time,  but  these  are  uncertain  re- 
liances, except  in  very  uncommon  cases  like  the  an- 
thracite coal  strike  of  1902.  In  places  of  some  size 
the  "  central  labor  union,"  a  federation  of  the  locals, 
is  an  influential  body  in  all  labor  affairs. 

The    national  union  is    made  up  of    existing  local 

^  In  Appendix  I.  to  the  volume  published  for  the  Committee  of  Fifty 
in  1901  on  Substitutes  for  the  Saloon,  he  gives  the  results  of  his  inqui- 
ries among  45  national  unions  with  a  total  membership  of  531,804. 
The  reports  cover  "  nearly  two  thirds  of  the  American  unions  having 
a  national  organization  and  more  than  two  thirds  of  the  membership 
of  such  organizations." 


COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES  39 

unions,  but  "  the  national  "  is  the  most  important  factor 
in  originating  new  unions  through  its  organizers,  or 
those  of  the  American  Federation.^  The  printers 
(1852),  the  hatters,  and  the  stone-cutters  have  the 
oldest  of  such  national  unions  in  the  United  States. 
The  iron  moulders  and  the  cigar-makers  followed  in  the 
sixth  and  seventh  decades  of  the  last  century.  Some 
of  the  local  unions  preceded  the  nationals  by  half  a  cen- 
tury. The  national  imion  is  a  representative  body, 
holding  conventions  usually  once  a  year,  but  there  is  a 
great  variety  of  habit  in  this  respect,  the  calling  of  a 
convention  depending  in  some  imions  on  a  favorable 
popular  vote  to  that  effect.  Important  questions  are 
often  put  to  the  test  of  the  referendum  in  preference  to 
the  submission  of  them  to  a  convention,  or  in  addition 
to  this.  It  cannot  yet  be  said  that  the  referendum  has 
finally  carried  the  day  over  the  representative  system, 
which  is  the  original  form  of  national  unionism  in  the 
United  States.  The  customs  of  the  nationals  vary 
greatly  in  regard  to  the  basis  of  representation  :  a  few 
allow  one  delegate  to  so  many  members,  but  in  most 
unions  the  smaller  locals  are  much  over-represented  in 
proportion  to  their  size,  no  local  being  granted  more 
than  two  to  four  delegates,  even  though  it  be  as  large 
as  "  Big  Six,"  the  tyjiographical  union  of  New  York, 
with  5,000  members. 

The  head  of  a  national  has  the  title  of  president 
usually,  but  he  is  sometimes  called  grand  master  or 
grand  chief.    If  the  organization  is  large  and  strong, 

^  The  American  Federation,  in  the  year  endinfj  September  30,  1903, 
organized  1139  "locals."  It  has  hundreds  of  "  general  organizers, " 
■who  do  this  work  in  their  leisure,  being  paid  a  commission,  and  a  con- 
siderable number  of  "  special  organizers  "  on  salary. 


40  COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES 

he  will  draw  a  modest  salary :  the  railroad  unions  are 
the  only  ones  paying  as  much  as  85,000  a  year.  The 
secretary-treasurer  is  more  likely,  however,  to  be  a 
salaried  person.  The  executive  board,  or  council,  com- 
posed of  the  principal  officers,  manages  the  affairs  of 
the  union,  under  final  control  by  the  convention  or  the 
popular  vote.  Much  of  the  business  has  to  be  trans- 
acted by  mail,  owing  to  the  wide  dispersion  of  the 
members  of  the  board.  Many  of  the  nationals  elect 
their  officers,  not  in  convention,  but  by  direct  vote  of 
the  membership  of  the  locals;  the  Australian  system 
is  everywhere  in  force,  and  a  majority  vote  is  required 
to  elect.  "  Several  unions  impose  a  fine,  usually  50 
cents,  upon  any  member  who  is  qualified  to  vote  and 
fails  to  do  so."  The  tendency  is  strong  to  permanence 
of  tenure  in  the  chief  offices  of  the  nationals  ;  in  most 
of  the  larger  British  unions  the  tenure  "  has  become 
practically  permanent." 

While  the  national  in  trade-union  theory  occupies 
the  place  of  the  central  government,  and  the  local  that 
of  a  State  government,  centralization  has  not  gone 
far  and  local  autonomy  is  the  rule  in  regard  to  the 
most  important  matters.  In  cases  of  discipline  an  ap- 
peal to  the  national  is  allowed.  The  relations  of  the 
two  bodies  in  regard  to  strikes  and  arbitration  will  be 
noticed  later.  In  addition  to  the  American  nationals 
already  named,  the  most  important  are  the  Amalga- 
mated Association  of  Iron,  Steel,  and  Tin  Workers, 
and  the  Railway  Brotherhoods.  In  Great  Britain 
the  coal  miners,  the  textile  workers,  the  printers,  and 
the  engineers  furnish  notable  instances  of  organiza- 
tion on  a  large  scale,  but  there  is  not  so  strong  a  ten- 
dency to  the  formation  of  national  bodies  as  in  the 


COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES  41 

United  States,  federation  being  mostly  confined  to  tlie 
districts,  larger  or  smaller,  in  which  an  industry  is 
located. 

The  benefit  features  of  the  trade-union  are  important 
but  not  primary  in  its  activity.  In  England  they  are 
of  far  more  .consequence  than  in  the  United  States. 
Only  the  Cigar  Makers  and  the  German- American 
Typographical  Union  can  be  compared  with  the  strong 
English  unions  in  this  respect.  In  both  countries  the 
defects  of  the  unions  as  benefit  societies  ai3pear  from 
Mr.  Edgerton's  remarks  :  "  The  payments  to  be  made 
by  the  union  depend  upon  its  current  rules,  and  those 
rules  may  at  any  time  be  changed.  The  scale  of  con- 
tributions and  benefits  may  at  any  time  be  altered,  even 
to  the  extent  of  abolishing  benefits  altogether.  After 
a  man  has  for  years  made  his  contributions  on  a  high 
scale,  the  benefits  which  he  has  helped  to  pay  to  others 
may  then  be  cut  off,  by  vote  of  the  members,  from  him 
and  his  heirs.  Even  if  the  rules  are  not  altered,  one 
who  has  contributed  to  the  sick  and  death  funds  for  a 
lifetime  may  at  any  moment  be  expelled  and  forfeit  all 
claim,  for  reasons  quite  unconnected  with  insurance 
against  death  or  against  sickness.  He  has  no  appeal 
from  the  decision  of  his  fellow- members.  Moreover,  if 
the  union  has  accumulated  a  fund,  presumably  avail- 
able for  the  payment  of  insurance  liabilities,  it  may  at 
any  moment  be  dissipated  in  the  support  of  a  strike." 
In  practice,  of  course,  many  of  these  defects  have  been 
of  minor  consequence,  but  it  is  probably  high  time  for 
the  unions,  if  they  would  attract  members  as  insur- 
ance institutions,  to  change  their  methods.  "  The  first 
and  most  imperative  reform  called  for  is  that  the 
contributions  for  insurance  should  be  kept  rigorously 


42  COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES 

distinct  from  those  for  the  general  purposes  of  the  order. 
Especially  should  they  be  kept  separate  from  those  for 
the  strike  fund."  ^ 

Although  the  leaders  of  American  trade-unions  are 
very  friendly  to  a  development  of  the  benefit  system, 
the  great  mass  of  the  members  object  to  the  large  dues 
which  this  would  require.  When  the  regular  running 
expenses  of  the  unions,  local  and  national,  have  been 
paid,  and  the  irregular  expenses  of  supporting  strikes 
have  been  met,  payment  for  death-benefits  is  the 
claim  most  generally  recognized  in  the  United  States. 
Some  forty  national  imions  pay  death-benefits  ranging 
from  $50  to  $200,  with  a  very  few  unions  paying 
$1,000  to  $5,000  ;  the  common  amount  is  $50  to  $100. 
A  dozen  trades  pay  sick-benefit  to  the  extent  of  four 
or  five  dollars  a  week,  taking  many  precautions  against 
fraud.  Local  unions  also  provide  for  death  and  sick- 
ness :  "  It  is  probable  that  the  aggregate  amount  of 
such  local  benefits  is  greater  than  the  amount  paid  by 
the  national  organizations."  Permanent  disabihty  ap- 
peals to  numerous  unions  as  a  cause  for  giving  aid 
equal  to  what  is  paid  at  death,  or  even  larger  in  amount. 
Thirty-eight  leading  unions  of  Great  Britain  pay  a 
superannuation  benefit,  but  no  American  union  has  yet 
done  so,  although  two  have  schemes  of  the  kind  under 
way.  In  a  few  trades  where  the  workmen  furnish  their 
own  tools,  these  are  insured  by  the  union  against  fire 
or  accident.  The  English  unions  pay  out  the  largest 
amount  in  benefits  to  men  out  of  work  ;  "  taking  one 
year  with  another,  it  even  surpasses  the  payment  on 
account  of  strikes."  The  main  object  of  this  in  the 
view  of  the  British  unions  is  the  maintenance  of  trade 

1  W.  F.  Willoughby,  Workingmen' s  Insurance,  p.  327. 


COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES 


43 


conditions.  Only  two  distinctively  American  unions 
do  anything  in  this  direction,  but  many  of  them  pro- 
vide for  "  victimized  members,"  who  have  lost  their 
places  because  of  their  zeal  for  unionism.^ 

A  few  words  must  suffice  by  way  of  mention  of  the 
two  great  national  bodies  of  workingmen  in  America 
which  have  carried  organization  one  degree  higher  than 
the  national  union  of  a  single  trade.  The  "  Noble  Or- 
der of  the  Knights  of  Labor  "  was  organized  in  1869  in 
Philadelphia,  on  the  lines  properly  indicated  by  the 

^  This  table,  from  the  Labour  Gazette  of  October,  1903,  will  show 
the  large  expenditure  of  100  leading  English  unions  for  unemployed 
and  friendly  benefits  and  also  indicate  the  two  other  chief  expense 
accounts,  for  disputes  and  for  management. 


Dispute 
Benefit. 

Unemployed  and 
Friendly  Benefits. 

Working  and 
other  Expenses  of 
Management. 

Year. 

Per 
cent,  of 

Per 
cent,  of 

Per 
cent,  of 

Amount. 

Total 
Expendi- 
ture. 

Amount. 

Total 
Expendi- 
ture. 

Amount. 

Total 
Expendi- 
ture. 

£ 

£ 

£ 

1892 

396,548 

27.7 

782,270 

54.6 

254,053 

17.7 

1893 

574,583 

31.2 

1,006,882 

54.8 

257,653 

14.0 

1894 

167,645 

11.7 

982,278 

68.8 

277,710 

10.5 

1895 

197,216 

14.3 

931,679 

67.4 

253,112 

18.3 

1896 

171,218 

14.0 

782,073 

63.8 

272,328 

22.2 

1897 

659,126 

34.5 

937,806 

49.0 

315,149 

16.5 

1898 

328,511 

21.9 

863,775 

57.6 

306,490 

20.5 

1899 

119,503 

9.4 

826,787 

65.1 

324,383 

25.5 

1900 

148,568 

10.1 

9.'')9,a58 

65.4 

359,6.56 

24.5 

1901 

204,603 

12.4 

1,067,637 

64.6 

379,870 

23.0 

1902 

216,494 

11.9 

1,201,033 

66.2 

397,200 

21.9 

During  the  eleven  years  1892-1902,  the  100  principal  unions  ex- 
pended £16,900,000,  of  which  amount  over  £10,800,000,  or  61  per  cent., 
was  spent  on  unemployed  and  friendly  benefits,  such  as  payments  to 
sick,  injured,  and  superannuated  members,  and  on  account  of  funeral 
expenses.  About  £3,200,000,  or  19  per  cent,  of  the  total,  was  spent 
on  dispute  benefit,  and  the  remaining  20  per  cent,  on  working  and  other 
expenses.  The  lowest  percentage  expenditure  on  dispute  benefit  was 
9.4  in  1899,  and  the  highest  34.5  in  1897. 

The  expenditure  on  each  of  the  principal  friendly  benefits  for  the 


44 


COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES 


term  "  trades-unions."  Tlie  Knigbts  of  Labor  took  in 
men  of  all  crafts  and  trades  and  even  professions.  They 
were  organized  in  local,  district,  and  general  assemblies. 
Extremely  secret  at  first,  tbey  did  not  greatly  increase 
in  number  until  the  features  of  secrecy  were  largely 
dropped  :  then  they  midtiplied  very  rapidly,  until  in 
1886  the  organization  claimed  to  number  600,000 
members.  Many  internal  complications,  however,  arose, 
and  the  Knights  of  Labor  meddled  altogether  too  much 
with  politics  for  their  best  interests.  The  very  injudi- 
cious strike  on  the  Missouri  Pacific  Railroad  lines  in 
1886  was  the  beginning  of  a  great  decline  in  the  order, 
which  is  now  supposed  to  number  not  more  than  one 
hundred  thousand  members  at  most. 

The  American  Federation  of  Labor,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  constructed  more  on  the  model  of  the  British 
trade-union  congress.  The  meeting  to  which  its  begin- 
ning is  now  referred  was  held  at  Pittsburg,  in  Novem- 
ber, 1881.  The  annual  congress  of  the  body  is  made  up 
of  a  comparatively  small  niunber  of  delegates,  from  one 


years  1892-1902  is  expressed  as  a  percentage  of  the  total  expenditure 
in  the  following  table  :  — 


Tear. 

Unemployed. 

Sick  and 
Accident. 

Super- 
annuation. 

Funeral. 

1892 
1803 
1894 

1895 
1896 
1897 
1898 
1899 
1900 
1901 
1902 

22.7 
24.9 
31.3 
30.1 
21.3 
17.1 
1(5.0 
14.8 
17.8 
19.6 
23.2 

14.7 
13.2 
16.1 
19.0 
20.1 
14.0 
18.6 
23.8 
22.1 
20.9 
20.1 

7.0 
6.0 
8.4 
9.4 
11.4 
7.8 
10.7 
13.8 
12.7 
12.1 
12.1 

4.7 
4.1 
4.8 
5.4 
6.1 
4.1 
B.5 
7.3 
6.7 
6.0 
5.4 

Mean  of  11  years 

21.7 

18.2 

10.0 

5.4 

COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYEES  45 

hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  and  fifty,  represent- 
ing the  many  affiliated  societies.  The  membership 
of  these  societies  probably  exceeded  900,000  in  July, 
1901 ;  in  1903  the  average  membership  upon  which 
a  per  capita  tax  was  paid  was  1,465,800.  It  is  a  strictly 
federal  body,  having  no  direct  relation  to  local  unions, 
and  with  no  power  to  order  or  to  discontinue  strikes, 
its  entire  function  being  advisory  to  the  trade-unions 
which  compose  its  membership.  The  antagonism  of  the 
Knig-hts  of  Labor  and  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor,  organized  on  such  different  principles,  has  been 
long  and  bitter. 

Having  noted  the  principal  phenomena  in  the  com- 
bination of  employees  at  the  present  day,  we  will  now 
turn  to  the  closely  related  subject  of  the  organization 
of  the  employ ers.i 

1  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb's  History  of  Trade-Uniomsm  easily  leads  all 
other  works  in  our  language  on  this  subject,  so  far  as  England  is  con- 
cerned. On  it,  as  a  basis,  they  have  erected  a  very  elaborate  structure 
in  their  treatise  on  Industrial  Democracy,  which  I  refer  to  here  only  so 
far  as  it  gives  facts  about  trade-unionism.  In  parts  i.  and  ii.  of  vol- 
ume xvii.  of  the  Industrial  Commission's  Report,  C.  E.  Edgerton  has 
given  a  condensed  and  impartial  account  of  labor  organizations  in  the 
United  States,  which  stands  quite  by  itself.  The  Labor  Movement 
edited  by  George  E.  McNeill ;  The  Labor  Movement  in  America  by 
Professor  R.  T.  Ely  ;  The  Industrial  Evolution  of  the  United  States  by 
C.  D.  Wright;  L''Ouvrier  Amiricain,  by  E.  Levasseur  ;  and  Organized 
Labor  by  John  Mitchell,  treat  well  the  development  of  unionism  in 
America.  W,  M.  Burke,  Ph.  D.,  is  the  author  of  an  interesting  study 
of  the  History  and  Functions  of  Central  Labor  Uriions.  George  Howell's 
Conflicts  of  Labour  and  Capital  speaks  for  English  unionism  with  more 
authority  than  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb  ;  his  Trade-Unionism  New  and 
Old  is  convenient  but  polemical.  P.  de  Kousier's  Trade-Unionisme  en 
Angleterre  (1897)  is  excellent ;  he  had  four  collaborators.  Professor 
L.  Brentano's  work  on  the  History  and  Development  of  Gilds  and  the 
Origin  of  Trade-Unions  led  Mr.  Howell  and  others  far  astray.  H. 
DeB.  Gibbins'  Industry  in  England,  and  Professor  E.  P.  Cheyney's 
Industrial  and  Social  History  of  England  show  how  sounder  views  are 


46  COMBINATION   OF  EMPLOYEES 

taught  in  our  colleges  to-day.  The  report  made  to  the  National 
Association  for  the  Promotion  of  Social  Science  in  1860  on  Trades' 
Societies  and  Strikes  is  still  of  much  value.  Two  books  of  interest  on 
French  Unionism  are  D.  Hal^vy's  Essais  sur  le  Mouvement  Ouvrier  en 
France  (1901)  and  L.  de  Seilhac's  St/ndicats  Ouvriers,  Fidh-ations, 
Bourses  du  Traya// (1902).  The  Board  of  Trade's  J)iVertor2/ q/" 77irfus- 
trial  Associations  for  1903  gives  a  full  list  of  trade-unions  in  the  United 
Kingdom,  pp.  38-99.  For  the  factory  system  see  R.  Whately  Cooke 
Taylor's  Introduction  to  a  History  of  the  Factory  System  and  The  Mod- 
ern Factory  System. 


CHAPTER  III 

COMBINATION    OF   EMPLOYERS 

We  have  seen  how  natural  and  easy  the  association 
of  workmen  in  trade-unions  has  been  and  is.  The 
association  of  employers  of  labor  among  themselves 
has  always  been  more  obvious  and  more  easy  still.  As 
Professor  Marshall  has  keenly  said :  "  Even  where 
employers  are  not  in  any  combination,  tacit  or  avowed, 
to  regulate  wages,  each  large  employer  is  in  his  own 
person  a  perfectly  firm  combination  of  employing 
power.  A  combination  of  a  thousand  workers  has  a 
very  weak  and  uncertain  force  in  comparison  with 
that  of  a  single  resolute  employer  of  a  thousand  men."  i 
When  the  modern  factory  system  arose,  the  practi- 
cal situation  was  often  one  in  which  hundreds  or 
thousands  of  comparatively  ignorant  and  unskilled 
worlonen  on  one  side,  in  a  particidar  place,  confronted 
two  or  three  employers  only  on  the  other  side.  With- 
out any  necessity  of  forming  a  regular  league  with  a 
definite  constitution,  these  two  or  three  employers 
could  easily  enjoy  all  the  advantages  of  combination. 
"  An  agreement  between  gentlemen  "  under  such  cir- 
cumstances is  exceedingly  natural  and  very  convenient. 
As  the  factory  system  has  extended  widely,  and  manu- 
facturers have  become  more  numerous,  agreements  of 
somewhat  more  binding  character  have  often  been 
made  without  a  formal  association.    Thus,  as  a  matter 

^  Elements  of  Economics  of  Industry,  p.  382. 


48  COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYERS 

of  fact,  employers  have  easily  had  the  advantages  of 
association  without  the  necessity  of  submitting  to  some 
of  its  inconveniences.  But  before  many  years  it  was 
found  that  formal  unions  of  employers  would  be  ad- 
vantageous to  their  interests.  In  1814,  for  instance, 
in  Sheffield  the  master  cutlers  formed  a  dealers'  and 
manufacturers'  union  in  order  to  keep  down  wages  to 
the  existing  rate.  This  practice  was  as  contrary  to 
the  combination  laws  of  the  time  as  any  trade-union. 
But  the  combination  laws  bore  hard  upon  workmen 
and  lightly  upon  employers,  and  the  latter  were  not 
disturbed.! 

Since  workingmen  have  been  permitted  by  law  to 
organize  freely,  there  is  no  good  reason  for  obstructing, 
in  any  way,  the  development  of  the  organization  of 
employers  in  opposition  to  the  trade-unions.  In  this 
direction  England  is  much  in  advance  of  the  United 
States.  As  Professor  Ashley  says  in  his  recent  work, 
"  The  Adjustment  of  Wages,"  the  employers  in  the 
coal  trade,  for  instance,  "  in  each  district  are  suffi- 
ciently well  organized  to  allow  of  negotiation  in  a  repre- 

1  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb  thus  mark  the  inequity  of  the  combination 
law  of  1799:  "It  is  true  that  the  law  forbade  combinations  of  em- 
ployers as  well  as  combinations  of  journeymen.  But  even  if  it  had 
been  impartially  carried  out,  there  would  still  have  remained  the  in- 
equality due  to  the  fact  that,  in  the  new  system  of  industry,  a  single 
employer  was  himself  equivalent  to  a  very  numerous  combination.  But 
the  hand  of  justice  was  not  impartial.  The  '  tacit  but  constant '  com- 
bination of  employers  to  depress  wages,  to  which  Adam  Smith  refers, 
could  not  be  reached  by  the  law.  Nor  was  there  any  disposition  on 
the  part  of  the  magistrates  or  the  judges  to  find  the  masters  guilty 
even  in  cases  of  flagrant  or  avowed  combination  :  .  .  .  during  the  whole 
epoch  of  repression,  whilst  thousands  of  journeymen  suffered  for  the 
crime  of  combination,  there  is  absolutely  no  case  on  record  in  which 
an  employer  was  punished  for  the  same  offence."  — History  of  Trade 
Unionism,  p.  64. 


COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYERS  49 

sentative  capacity."  ^  In  this  and  other  trades  the 
"  Directory  of  Industrial  Associations  in  the  United 
Kingdom,"  published  by  the  Board  of  Trade  (third 
issue,  1903),  presents  a  long  list  of  associations  of  em- 
ployers "  concerned  with  matters  relating  to  the  em- 
ployment of  labor  "  specifically.  The  complete  list  fills 
31  pages,  embracing  38  national  associations  and  fed- 
erations, and  727  local  associations.^  The  employers 

^  In  a  note  to  this  passage  (p.  32)  he  adds  that  "  it  is  more  difl&cult 
to  obtain  information  about  employers'  than  about  workmen's  unions, 
since  the  former  do  not  make  any  returns  of  membership,  funds,  ex- 
penditure, etc.  to  the  Board  of  Trade.  .  .  .  However  incomplete  the 
membership  of  the  associations  may  be,  it  is  evident  that  the  arrange- 
ments they  make  in  the  matter  of  wages  are  accepted  by  the  great  body 
of  coal  owners." 

"^  The  building  trades  occupy  nearly  one  half  of  this  space  with 
their  13  national  associations  and  federations  of  master  builders : 
slaters,  plumbers,  and  plasterers  ;  and  painters  and  decorators ;  and  a 
long  roll  (411)  of  local  associations  of  master  builders,  bricklayers, 
masons,  carpenters  and  joiners,  slaters,  plumbers,  plasterers,  painters 
and  decorators,  and  glaziers.  Next  in  importance  comes  mining  and 
quarrying  :  at  the  head  stand  the  Federated  Coal  Owners  and  the 
United  Kingdom  Granite  and  Whinstone  Quarry  Masters  Associa- 
tion, with  the  Cleveland  Mine  Owners  Association,  and  32  local 
associations  in  both  trades.  The  metal,  engineering,  and  shipbuilding 
trades  follow,  with  10  district  associations  in  the  iron  and  steel  trades, 

3  federations,  and  84  local  associations.  In  the  textile  trades  one  finds 

4  federations  and  46  local  associations.  Under  "  clothing  trades  " 
come  2  federations  and  29  local  associations  of  boot,  shoe,  and  clog 
manufacturers  ;  1  federation  and  36  local  associations  in  tailoring ; 
in  the  hat  manufacture,  1  national  and  3  local  associations.  In  trans- 
portation industries  there  are  1 1  local  associations  of  cab,  cart,  and 
car  owners;  1  national  association  of  "ship,  barge,  fishing  vessels, 
etc."  owners  and  10  local  bodies  ;  1  local  association  only  in  agri- 
culture, but  in  printing  and  kindred  trades  6  national  associations  and 
federations  and  37  local  associations.  The  wood-working  and  finish- 
ing trades  have  4  of  the  larger  associations  and  ol  of  the  smaller  local 
ones.  The  glass,  pottery,  and  brick  trades  show  8,  5,  and  8  employers' 
unions  respectively.  Under  "  Food,  etc..  Preparation,"  come  3  national 
associations  of  master  bakers  and  confectioners  and  38  local  associa- 
tions, and  3  of  the  latter  in  the  corn  trade.     The   saddlers  have  a 


60  COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYERS 

maintain  a  parliamentary  council,  and  the  cotton  em- 
ployers a  parliamentary  association.  In  1873  there 
was  reached  the  highest  degree  of  combination  of 
this  sort  in  the  transient  National  Federation  of  As- 
sociations of  Employers  of  Labour,  made  up  of  em- 
ployers from  all  branches  of  industry.  This  corre- 
sponded to  the  Trade-Union  Congress  of  the  country, 
on  the  other  side  of  the  controversy.  American  em- 
ployers and  others  have  recently  formed  a  similar  body 
under  the  name  of  the  Citizens  Industrial  Association 
of  America,  a  much  less  appropriate  title. ^ 

One  of  the  most  valuable  documents  resulting  from 
the  Royal  Conunission  on  Labour  was  the  compilation 
of  "  Rules  of  Associations  of  Employers  and  of  Em- 
ployed," prepared  by  Mr.  Geoffrey  Drage,  the  secre- 
tary. From  Mr.  Drage's  introductory  memorandum 
on  the  rules  of  the  employers'  associations  I  extract 
the  following  information,  and  Appendix  I.  gives 
the  condensation  made  by  him  of  the  rules  of  the 
National  Association  of  Master  Builders  of  Great 
Britain,  as  a  good  instance  of  the  regulations  of  such 
bodies  (p.  308),  and  a  paragraph  also  from  the 
rules  of  the  Iron  Trades  Employers  Association. 
About  seventy  employers'  associations  reported  their 
rules  to  the  Commission,  but  some  of  these  bodies 
were  purely  commercial  organizations,  not  concerned 
with  the  labor  question.  Very  few  of  these  associa- 
tions were  registered,  and  of  course  fewer  still  were 
incorporated.  "  Several  .  .  .  desire  to  regulate  wages, 
hours,  and  other   conditions  of   employment."    Thus 

federation  and  11  locals.  Seven  associations  are  found  among  the 
master  bone  brush  makers,  the  mat  makers,  tanners,  laundrymen,  card 
makers,  bill-posters,  and  conereters. 

^  See  Appendix  I.  for  an  account  of  this  association. 


COMBINATION   OF  EMPLOYERS  51 

the  Iron  Trades  Association  declares  one  of  its  objects 
to  be  cooperation  among  its  members  to  resist  demands 
of  trade-unions  concerning  hours  of  labor,  piece-work, 
over-time,  and  employment  of  men  and  boys  on  ma- 
chines or  otherwise.  The  Liverpool  Employers  Labour 
Association  wishes  to  establish  "  an  office  for  the 
organization  and  registration  of  labour."  Most  of  the 
associations  desire  to  regulate  their  relations  with  the 
workpeople  so  as  to  avoid  strikes  and  lockouts,  or  to 
give  assistance  to  their  members  whose  employees  have 
struck.  The  need  of  united  action  in  opposition  to 
organized  labor  is  emphasized. 

These  associations  are  usually  governed  by  an  ex- 
ecutive council,  or  a  board  of  directors,  the  number  of 
these  varying  greatly.  The  various  sections  of  the 
trade  are  usually  considered  in  the  choice  of  directors. 
The  other  offices  are  honorary,  but  the  secretary  is  a 
paid  and  active  official.  General  meetings  are  held 
quarterly  or  half-yearly,  and  special  meetings  upon  the 
call  of  the  council.  Sometimes  each  fii-m  represented 
has  but  one  vote  ;  in  other  associations  each  member  has 
from  one  to  eight,  or  sixteen,  votes,  according  to  the 
amount  of  annual  production.  Branch  or  local  associa- 
tions have  the  same  general  constitution  as  the  larger 
bodies.  Membership  is,  of  course,  usually  restricted  to 
"  companies,  firms,  or  individual  owners,  or  managers 
employing  labor,  or  dealing  in  materials  in  some  particu- 
lar trade  or  trades."  A  fixed  entrance  fee  is  charged  by 
some  associations ;  in  others  this  is  determined  by  the 
amount  of  property  owned  by  the  member,  or  by  the 
wage-bill  paid  by  him.  The  annual  subscription,  in 
like  manner,  is  sometimes  a  fixed  sum,  but  the  more 
common  way  is  to  graduate  it  according  to  property 


62  COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYERS 

owned  or  wages  paid.  Provision  is  made  for  special 
levies  in  cases  of  emergency. 

As  soon  as  a  labor  dispute  arises  in  the  works  of  a 
member  he  must  report  it  to  the  secretary  of  the  asso- 
ciation, who  will  at  once  call  a  general  meeting.  "  Dur- 
ing a  strike  or  lockout  members  may  not  take  inde- 
pendent action  in  the  way  of  conceding  the  demands  of 
the  men  or  making  any  propositions  to  them,  without 
the  consent  of  the  association."  Some  associations  assist 
members  whose  employees  have  struck,  "  if  the  strike 
arises  out  of  a  matter  of  principle  or  in  consequence 
of  action  taken  at  the  advice  of  the  association,"  but 
this  is  not  done  if  the  member  has  caused  the  trouble 
by  his  own  action.  Many  associations  fix  the  wages 
which  their  members  are  to  pay,  the  hours  of  labor, 
and  the  times  of  payment ;  and  others  have  rules  re- 
garding apprenticeship,  giving  notice  before  leaving 
work,  and  the  production  of  a  "  character."  Free  com- 
petition between  members  is  forbidden  in  several  ways. 
A  member  may  not  induce  the  employee  of  another 
member  to  leave  his  work ;  or  engage  a  workman  from 
the  workshop  or  colliery  of  a  member  where  a  strike  is 
in  progress,  or  even  engage  any  new  employees  at  such 
a  time.  The  black-list  is  found  occasionally,  and  no 
member  may  hire  a  man  whose  name  is  on  it.  Infor- 
mation of  value  is  not  to  be  imparted  to  outside  firms 
or  persons.  In  one  association  each  member  must  as- 
sist any  other  member  whose  men  have  struck  "  by  ex- 
ecuting orders  by  him  at  a  profit  not  exceeding  ten  per 
cent."  Some  associations  compensate  members  from 
the  general  treasury  for  loss  of  profits  during  a  strike, 
or  in  case  of  a  boycott. 

The  relative  weakness  and  strength  of  the  two  par- 


COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYERS  53 

ties  to  labor  disputes  have  been  greatly  altered  in  the 
last  generation.  Formerly  the  workmen,  ignorant  and 
unorganized,  were  engaged  by  a  capitalist-employer, 
intelligent  and  wealthy.  He  was  usually  able  to  join 
easily  in  a  real  combination  with  other  manufacturers 
of  his  neighborhood  without  formal  articles  of  associa- 
tion. The  employee  was  at  great  disadvantage  of  po- 
sition. Now,  in  many  trades,  the  unions  have  changed 
all  that.  They  can  often  dictate  terms  to  the  ordinary 
employer  of  labor  who  is  unassociated  with  his  fellows. 
The  two  parties  are  thus  again  veiy  unevenly  adjusted 
to  each  other,  the  balance  inclining  in  favor  of  the 
workingman.  There  is,  as  yet,  no  body  of  employers  in 
the  United  States  to  be  compared  in  power  with  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor.  This  federation  has 
a  considerable  number  of  salaried  officers ;  however 
moderate  their  salaries  may  seem  to  the  ovitside  world, 
they  are  very  efficient  men.  It  spends  over  ten  thou- 
sand dollars  a  year  on  its  publications  in  support  of  its 
principles,  and  it  contributes,  if  it  will,  the  strength 
of  its  moral  support  to  a  strike  in  any  part  of  the 
country.  The  National  Association  of  Manufacturers 
is  the  main  body  that  could  properly  be  mentioned 
in  the  way  of  contrast.  This  body  has  but  one  organ, 
and  its  main  method  of  impressing  the  public  is  by 
means  of  the  published  reports  of  its  annual  meet, 
ings  ;  and  it  has  no  treasury  of  consequence.  The  most 
imposing  State  organization  of  unionists,  the  Illinois 
miners,  on  the  other  hand,  contribute  to  their  treasury 
three  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  dollars  a  year.  This 
sum  is  available  in  support  of  strikes  within  the  State  or 
without.  As  a  near-by  instance  of  the  difference  in  or- 
ganization, I  may  mention  Meadville,  Pennsylvania,  a 


54  COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYERS 

city  of  some  twelve  thousand  persons,  where  "  labor  "  is 
"organized  "  to  the  extent  of  nine  tenths  at  least  of 
all  the  skilled  workers,  but  there  is  no  organization  of 
employers  as  such. 

It  is,  therefore,  a  fact  plain  to  the  common  observer 
even  that  labor  is  better  organized  than  capital  at 
present  in  this  country,  in  respect  to  all  questions  of 
dispute  between  them.  Sagacious  employers  are  ac- 
cordingly beginning  to  see  that  the  employers  of  the 
country  need  combination,  first  of  all.  Instead  of  de- 
nouncing combinations  of  working  jDcople,  they  should 
immediately  apply  the  principle  to  themselves :  thus 
organized,  they  will  be  much  better  able  to  cope  with 
this  same  principle  as  applied  by  the  workingmen. 
The  most  widely  known  advocate  of  this  truth  is  Mr, 
Herman  Justi,  the  Commissioner  of  the  Coal  Operators 
of  Illinois.  He  has  been  active  for  several  years  in  de- 
manding the  organization  of  employers  of  labor.  The 
volume  entitled  "  Industrial  Conciliation "  (1902) 
contains  a  paper  read  by  him  before  the  Chicago  Con- 
ference in  December,  1900,  which  discussed  concilia- 
tion and  arbitration.  Mr.  Justi  has  repeated  his  argu- 
ment in  a  lecture  delivered  in  Faneuil  Hall,  Boston,  in 
November,  1902,  and  published  in  the  "  Bulletin  of 
the  National  Metal  Trades  Association  "  for  Decem- 
ber, 1902.  Another  vigorous  statement  concerning  the 
relative  unorganization  of  employers  has  been  made  by 
Mr.  Frederick  P.  Bagley  of  the  Master  Builders  As- 
sociation of  Chicago  (to  be  found  in  the  volume  just 
named,  p.  192). 

It  is  pointed  out  with  much  truth  and  force  by  such 
authorities  as  Mr.  Justi  and  Mr.  Bagley  that  the  indi- 
vidual employer  is  comparatively  powerless  before  a 


COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYERS  55 

strong  trade-union.  They  therefore  advocate  the  policy 
of  combination  of  all  employers  in  the  same  industry  in 
every  State,  and  would  have  the  national  associations 
ally  themselves  to  form  an  American  Federation  of 
Employers,  on  the  plan  of  the  English  National  Feder- 
ation of  Associations  of  Employers  of  Labour  recently 
mentioned.  It  is  quite  obvious  to  the  philosophical 
observer  that  the  principle  of  combination  is  one  that 
ought  to  be  applied  impartially  on  both  sides  of  the 
labor  world.  As  long  as  one  side,  to  use  Mr.  Justi's 
comparison,  is  as  well  disciplined  as  a  regular  army, 
and  the  other  more  like  a  home-guard,  there  will  prob- 
ably be  no  permanent  adjustment  of  the  difficulties 
between  them.  In  the  regulation  of  wages  and  hours 
of  labor  there  is  need  of  two  thoroughly  organized 
forces  in  order  that  "  collective  bargaining  "  may  be 
conducted  reasonably  and  frviitfully. 

Experience  has  spoken  with  no  uncertain  voice  in 
favor  of  the  policy  in  question.  Let  us  take  an  instance 
from  the  English  record.  In  1897  the  employers  in 
the  engineering  business  greatly  extended  such  an  asso- 
ciation among  them,  and  thereby  defeated  a  strike  of  the 
Amalgamated  Engineers,  which,  if  successful,  woidd 
probably  have  had  the  effect  of  driving  a  great  many 
employers  out  of  business.  An  apparently  impartial 
authority  (the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  vol.  xxxiii. 
p.  24)  thus  presents  some  phases  of  this  notable  sti-ike  : 
"The  immediate  occasion  of  the  stoppage  was  a  de- 
mand on  the  part  of  the  men  for  an  eight-hour  day 
in  London  workshops,  but  this  issue  was  soon  over- 
shadowed in  importance  by  other  questions  relating  to 
the  freedom  of  employers  from  interference  by  the 
unions  in  the  management  of  their  business,  especially 


66  COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYERS 

in  such  matters  as  piece-work,  over-time,  selection 
and  training  of  workmen  to  work  machines,  employ- 
ment of  unionists  and  non-unionists,  and  other  matters 
affecting  the  relations  of  the  employer  and  employed 
generally  throughout  the  United  Kingdom.  ...  In 
the  absence  of  any  general  combination  of  employers, 
the  unions  were  able  to  bring  their  whole  force  to  bear 
on  emjjloyers  in  particidar  localities,  with  the  result 
that  the  stringency  of  the  conditions  and  restrictions 
enforced  varied  very  greatly  in  different  districts,  ac- 
cording to  the  comparative  strength  of  the  unions  in 
those  districts.  Employers  complained  of  being  sub- 
ject to  vexatious  restriction  not  imposed  on  their 
competitors,  and  they  declared  that  they  were  severely 
handicapped  as  compared  with  America  and  other 
countries,  where  engineering  employers  had  much  more 
complete  control  over  the  management  of  their  busi- 
ness." The  Federation  of  Engineering  Employers, 
formed  in  1895,  soon  spread  over  the  whole  United 
Kingdoni.  It  adopted  the  policy  of  threatening  a  gen- 
eral lockout  of  trade-unionists  whenever  any  particular 
individuals  or  localities  were  threatened  with  a  strike. 
The  lockout  notices  were  framed  in  such  a  way  as  to 
affect  twenty-five  per  cent,  of  the  trade-unionists  em- 
ployed each  week.  They  were  to  be  discharged  by  in- 
stalments until  all  were  locked  out.  In  Jmie,  1897, 
when  the  Federation  determined  to  support  the  Lon- 
don employers  against  the  strike  for  an  eight-hour  day, 
it  was  understood  that  the  struggle  had  at  length  come 
for  "  a  settlement  of  all  the  important  questions  at 
issue  between  the  Federation  and  the  unions  as  a 
whole."  The  Engineers  immediately  withdrew  all  their 
workmen  at  once  from  the  workshops  of  the  Federa- 


COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYERS  57 

tion.  When  the  dispute  closed  702  employers  had 
become  involved  and  47,500  working  people.  The  em- 
ployers absolutely  refused  to  grant  any  reduction  of 
hours  of  labor.  On  January  13,  1898,  the  London  de- 
mand for  an  eight-hour  day  was  withdrawn,  and  on  Jan- 
uary 28  a  settlement  was  reached  which  was  a  com- 
plete victory  for  the  employers.  The  employers  have 
used  their  victory  with  moderation,  and  the  relations 
between  them  and  their  workmen  "  seem,  on  the  whole, 
to  have  been  improved,  all  matters  likely  to  cause  dis- 
pute being  now  amicably  discussed  between  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  respective  associations." 

As  an  instructive  instance  from  American  experience 
I  will  quote,  without  endorsing  their  tone,  but  simply 
for  the  facts  that  they  contain,  two  reports  of  the  presi- 
dent of  the  employers'  association  of  Dayton,  Ohio. 
In  1902  he  wrote  :  "  Realizing  the  serious  conditions 
which  existed  in  Dayton,  the  rapid  advancement  organ- 
ized labor  was  making,  and  the  bold  and  aggressive 
manner  in  which  it  was  everywhere  asserting  itself,  in 
the  spring  of  1900,  when  organized  labor  was  march- 
ing up  and  down  the  town  with  banners  flying,  defying 
the  law  and  all  rights  of  our  manufacturers,  business 
men,  and  independent  workmen,  by  intimidation,  coer- 
cion, boycotting,  and  all  sorts  of  lawlessness,  whereby 
our  newspapers,  police  department,  politicians,  and 
courts  were  influenced  to  an  alarming  degree,  a  meet- 
ing was  called  as  the  result  of  a  conference  between  a 
few  of  our  citizens.  Several  informal  meetings  fol- 
lowed, resulting  in  a  committee  being  appointed  to 
prepare  a  constitution  and  by-laws  for  a  permanent 
organization.  The  Employers  Association  was  organ- 
ized in  June,  1900,  with  thirty-eight  firms  and  cor- 


58  COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYERS 

porations  as  charter  members.  The  importance  and  in- 
fluence of  the  Association  at  once  became  apparent  in 
many  ways,  and  evidence  of  a  changed  condition  was 
visible  all  about  us.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the 
Association  did  not  add  materially  to  its  membership 
the  first  year,  its  moral  influence  resulted  in  the  accom- 
plishment of  much  reform,  labor  leaders  became  less 
dominant,  and  no  new  unions  were  organized,  whereas 
during  the  previous  year  a  labor  leader  reported  the 
formation  of  twenty-six  new  unions."  In  April,  1903, 
he  declared :  "  We  have  had  two  years  of  industrial 
peace  and  quiet  in  Dayton,  which,  following  in  the  wake 
of  general  disorder  and  lawlessness,  should  inspire  us 
to  stronger  bonds  of  unity."  ^ 

In  the  United  States  there  are  conspicuous  instances 
of  the  advantages  of  the  organization  of  employers 
into  national  associations.  The  glass  trade  is  one  ex- 
ample, but  the  union  of  the  employers  is  not  so  strong 
or  so  formal  here  as  in  the  foundry  trades.  In  the  stove 
foundry  business,  after  the  great  strike  in  1886,  the 
manufacturers  organized  the  Stove  Founders  National 
Defense  Association.  The  relations  between  the  iron 
moulders  and  the  stove  manufacturers  had  been  very 
hostile,  as  a  rule,  for  years.  The  Defense  Association 
provided  for  the  levy  of  assessments  in  the  case  of 
strikes,  and  also  for  the  performance  of  work  by  other 
establishments  while  a  strike  was  "on;"  and  in  va- 
rious other  ways  it  sought  to  promote  the  welfare  of 
the  trade  during  labor  troubles.  "  The  organization  is 
one  of  the  strongest  ever  established  among  manufac- 

^  In  Appendix  I.  -will  be  found  the  substance  of  the  rules  of  the 
Dayton  Association.  The  Bulletin  of  the  Metal  Trades  Association 
tells  of  similar  cases  in  Beloit,  Wis.,  Rutland,  Vt.,  and  Kankakee,  Ills. 


COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYERS  59 

turers  in  the  United  States  for  mutual  aid  in  dealings 
with  labor."  Disputes  with  the  Iron  Holders'  Union 
continued  during  the  next  five  years,  but  the  manu- 
facturers had  more  success  than  before.  In  1891,  one 
of  the  manufacturers,  who  had  himseK  been  an  iron 
moulder  and  prominent  in  the  union,  proposed  a  scheme 
of  conciliation.  Since  that  time  there  have  been  no 
strikes  in  the  trade,  and  all  difficulties  have  been  ad- 
justed by  the  excellent  system  of  conciliation  and  col- 
lective bargaining  between  the  union  and  the  associa- 
tion. This  is  a  most  important  example  of  the  value, 
not  only  to  the  employer,  but  also  to  the  cause  of 
industrial  peace,  of  employers'  combinations.  The  Na- 
tional Founders  Association  followed  the  same  method 
in  1898  ;  its  experience  has  not  been  so  fortunate  as 
that  of  the  Fomiders  Defense  Association,  but  the  re- 
sults have  been  a  great  improvement  on  the  previous 
record.  The  National  Metal  Trades  Association,  a 
strong  combination  formed  in  1899,  made  an  agree- 
ment of  a  similar  kind  with  the  International  Associa- 
tion of  Machinists  in  1900,  but  this  agreement  broke 
down  in  1901,  and  it  has  not  been  renewed  since.  "  It 
has  repeatedly  been  asserted  by  employers  and  em- 
ployees, who  have  had  experience  with  similar  systems, 
that  it  is  necessary  that  each  side  should  learn,  perhaps 
by  one  or  more  prolonged  conflicts,  to  fear  the  strength 
of  the  other  side."  ^ 

In  the  iron,  steel,  and  tin  industries  we  find  the  most 
widespread  organization  of  employers,  resulting  in 
the  formation  of  sliding  scales  and  industrial  agree- 
ments between  them  and  their  workmen  organized  in 
the  Amalgamated  Association  of  Iron,  Steel,  and  Tin 

^  Report  of  the  Industrial  Commission,  vol.  xvii.  p.  360. 


60  COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYERS 

Workers  of  the  United  States.  Nearly  all  the  manufac- 
turers who  were  formerly  members  of  such  employers' 
associations  are  now  members  of  the  trusts  or  "  in- 
dustrial combinations."  The  RejDublic  Iron  and  Steel 
Company,  the  American  Sheet  Steel  Company,  and 
the  American  Tin  Plate  Company  are  the  three  most 
important,  —  these  bemg  now  imited  in  the  United 
States  Steel  Corporation.  Mr.  Justi  well  points  out 
the  difference  between  the  combination  of  capital  in 
the  trusts  of  the  day  and  the  organization  of  cap- 
ital which  is  desired  in  order  to  cope  with  the  trade- 
unions.  The  phrase  "  organization  of  capital  "  is  quite 
inadequate  in  this  direction.  "  Combination  of  em- 
ployers "  much  more  precisely  indicates  what  is  needed. 
The  purpose  of  such  combination,  it  must  not  be  for- 
gotten, should  be,  not  to  make  war  upon  the  trade- 
unions  in  a  vain  dream  of  exterminating  them,  locally  or 
nationally,  but  to  deal  on  equal  terms  with  them  under 
the  methods  of  collective  bargaining  and  conciliation 
accepted  and  approved  in  the  trade.  When  one  side 
has  developed  the  principle  of  combination  to  a  great 
degree  of  perfection,  it  is  plain  common-sense  for  the 
opposite  side  to  meet  it  haKway.  Employers  of  labor 
in  the  United  States  should  have  no  hesitation  in  ap- 
plying the  suggestions  of  Mr.  Justi  and  Mr.  Bagley. 
In  the  next  few  years  they  can  show  their  judgment 
and  sagacity  nowhere  more  effectually  than  in  the  direc- 
tion of  local  organization.  Eventually  they  should  have 
strongf  combinations  for  the  different  States  and  for 
the  country  at  large.  Combination  on  the  part  of  em- 
ployers of  labor  is  the  inevitable  precedent  to  a  syste- 
matic method  of  bargaining  with  the  trade-unions.^ 
^  The  combination  of  the  employer  and  the  employed  against  the  in- 


COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYERS  Gl 

terests  of  the  public  is  a  form  of  association  which  does  not  come  within 
the  view  of  this  volume.  Such  an  association  as  Mr.  R.  S.  Baker 
describes  in  McClure''s  Magazine  for  September,  1903,  under  the  title 
"Capital  and  Labor  Together,"  is  pm'ely  a  conspiracy  in  restraint 
of  trade,  and  needs  no  consideration  from  the  standpoint  of  in- 
dustrial peace.  Peace  has  been  only  too  well  attained  in  such  cases  ! 
In  a  little  book  on  The  New  Trades  Combination  Movement,  Mr.  E. 
J.  Smith,  of  Birmingham,  described  an  organization  of  a  somewhat 
similar  kind,  to  which  the  public  might  have  found  reason  in  time  to 
object  as  a  conspiracy.  In  the  Economic  Review  for  Ajiril,  1903,  Mr. 
Smith  has  related  the  failure  of  this  movement. 

See  for  further  details  of  combinations  of  employers  the  Sules  of 
Associations  of  Employers  and  of  Employed,  issued  by  the  Royal  Com- 
mission on  Labour  ;  the  Directory  published  by  the  Board  of  Trade  ; 
vol.  xvii.  of  the  Report  of  the  Industrial  Commission,  part  iii.  on  "Col- 
lective Bargaining,  Conciliation,  and  Arbitration,"  pp.  325-422  ;  the 
papers  of  Mr.  H.  Justi  and  Mr.  F.  P.  Bagley  in  Industrial  Conciliation 
(pp.  192,  204)  ;  Mr.  Justi' s  various  pamphlets  on  the  subject ;  the 
monthly  Bulletin  of  the  National  Metal  Trades  Association ;  and  Ainei-i- 
can  Industries,  the  semi-monthly  organ  of  the  National  Association 
of  Manufacturers. 


CHAPTER  IV 

COLLECTIVE   BARGAINING 

A  FELICITOUS  term,  now  coming  into  general  use, 
to  denote  the  essential  method  of  trade-unionism,  is 
Collective  Bargaining.  The  words  strike  to  the  very 
centre  of  trade-union  activity.  The  more  common  use 
of  this  exact  and  expressive  term  wiU  greatly  clear  up 
the  discussion  of  trade-unionism  in  general  and  of  ar- 
bitration in  partievdar  ;  for  much  that  commonly  goes 
by  the  name  "  arbitration "  is  properly  "  collective 
bargaining."  Dr.  E.  Dana  Durand  thought  in  1901 
that  the  wide  diffusion  of  the  term  in  this  country  was 
perhaps  doubtful,  but  it  is  already  fast  winning  its 
way  among  careful  writers,  and  it  will  probably  com- 
mend itself  to  the  generality  before  long. 

We  owe  this  very  convenient  and  accurate  phrase 
to  Mrs.  Sidney  Webb.  In  her  volume  on  "  The  Coop- 
erative Movement,"  published  in  1891,  speaking  of  "  a 
conjunction  of  cooperative  and  trade-union  organiza- 
tion," which  is  to  '*  bring  the  producer  and  consumer 
face  to  face,"  she  says  :  "  Individualist  exchange  must 
follow  individualist  production,  and  give  place  to  col- 
lective bargaining"  (p.  217.  The  next  sentence  be- 
gins, "  To  gain  a  clear  conception  of  the  collective 
bargain  —  of  the  social  relation  which  will  supersede 
the  individual  relation."  On  page  220  Mrs.  Webb 
mentions  "  the  basis  of  the  collective  bargain.")    This 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  63 

appears  to  be  the  first  use  of  the  term  in  our  lan^age.^ 
It  was  brought  to  the  front  emphatically  in  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Webb's  "  Industrial  Democracy,"  published  in 
1897,  in  which  chapter  ii.  of  part  ii.  was  entitled, 
"  The  Method  of  Collective  Bargaining."  This  chapter 
is  stiU  the  most  elaborate  treatment  of  the  subject 
to  be  found,  with  the  exception  of  the  pages  devoted 
to  the  method  in  Dr.  Durand's  rejjort  on  collective 
bargaining,  conciliation,  and  arbitration  in  vol.  xvii. 
of  the  "  Report  of  the  Industrial  Commission  "  (pp. 
Ixxiv.-ci.  and  pp.  325-422).  In  a  note  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Webb  say :  "  The  phrase  '  Individual  Bargain- 
ing '  is  used  incidentally  by  C.  Morrison  in  his 
'  Essay  on  the  Relations  between  Labour  and  Capi- 
tal '  (London,  1854),  as  equivalent  to  '  what  may  be 

^  W.  T.  Thornton  in  1868  had  come  near  to  this  phrase  in  his  very 
liberal  treatise,  On  Labour,  iu  which  he  spoke  of  "  workmen  ...  at 
liberty  collectively  to  refuse  to  work  except  on  temis  to  which  .  .  . 
they  may  have  collectively  agreed."  Thornton,  in  fact,  used  the  ad- 
verb "  collectively"  in  the  ordinary  sense  in  which  we  employ  the  ad- 
jective "  collective  "  in  the  term  in  question,  while  Mrs.  Webb  plainly 
had  in  mind  bargaining  in  the  collectivist  state;  so  that  "  coUectivist 
bargaining"  would  have  been  a  more  accurate  phrasing  of  her  thought. 
In  Industrial  Democracy  the  term  is  used  without  any  reference  to  the 
socialist  state,  or  to  Mrs.  Webb's  socialistic  implication  in  The  Co- 
operative Movement.  The  first  use  of  it  in  a  "joint"  or  collective 
agreement  has  been  noted  by  Professor  Ashley  in  the  Terms  of  Settle- 
ment in  the  great  engineering  dispute  of  1898 ;  the  official  note  to  the 
fourth  section  says:  "  Collective  bargaining  between  the  miners'  and 
the  employers'  associations  is  here  made  the  subject  of  distinct  agree- 
ment." 

M.  Ostrogorski  speaks  of  "collective  sovereignty"  in  his  Rights 
of  Women  (1893)  ;  chapter  ii.  bears  tliis  title,  and  begins  thus:  "The 
exercise  of  supreme  power  no  longer  belongs  exclusively  to  princes,  but 
emanates  from  the  nation.  ...  In  other  words,  sovereignty  has  become 
collective  instead  of  individual."  He  here  uses  a  phrase  not  without 
application  to  the  trade-union  in  its  relation  to  the  individual  workman, 
and  to  the  employers' association  in  its  relation  to  the  single  employer 


64  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

called  the  commercial  principle,'  according  to  which  the 
workman  endeavours  to  sell  his  labor  as  dearly  and  the 
employer  to  purchase  it  as  cheaply  as  possible '  (p.  9)  " 
The  practice  which  the  phrase  "  collective  bargain- 
ing "  denotes  has  long  been  familiar  to  trade-unions 
and  to  persons  who  have  observed  their  activities,  or 
have  had  to  deal  with  them.  This  kind  of  bargain  is 
much  older  than  is  commonly  supposed.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Webb  give  several  instances  of  the  use  of  the  method 
in  England  as  far  back  as  the  early  years  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.^  The  commonness  of  the  practice  in 
our  own  day  is  shown  by  the  frequent  appearance  in 
the  newspapers  of  such  paragraphs  as  this  :  — 

Pittsburg,  June  17,  1903.  —  The  American  Tin  Plate 
Company  has  signed  the  annual  wage  scale  with  the  Tin- 
workers  International  Protective  Association.  It  is  practi- 
cally the  same  scale  as  is  now  in  force,  and  will  go  into  effect 
on  July  15.  The  workers  asked  for  a  number  of  concessions, 
nearly  all  of  which  were  withdrawn.  The  signing  of  the 
scale  will  affect  about  10,000  workmen. 

The  nature  of  this  most  characteristic  phenomenon 
of  modern  industry  wiU  appear  from  brief  considera- 
tion. "Individual  bargaining "  takes  place  when  one 
person  bargains  with  another  concerning  a  service  or 

^  Speaking  of  the  London  printers,  they  say  :  "  In  1804  we  even 
hear  of  a  joint  committee,  consisting  of  an  equal  number  of  masters 
and  journeymen,  authorized  by  their  respective  bodies  to  frame  regu- 
lations for  the  future  payment  of  labour,  and  resulting  in  the  elaborate 
'scale'  of  1805,  signed  by  both  masters  and  men.  The  London  coop- 
ers had  a  recognized  organization  in  1813,  in  which  year  a  list  of  prices 
was  agreed  upon  by  representatives  of  the  masters  and  men.  This  list 
was  revised  in  1816  and  1819.  .  .  .  The  London  brushmakers  in  1805 
had  '  A  List  of  Prices  agreed  upon  between  the  Masters  and  Journey- 
men,' which  is  still  extant."  —  History  of  Trade-  Unionism,  p.  06. 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  65 

a  commodity  —  it  may  be,  for  instance,  the  buying 
and  selling  of  a  house,  or  the  engaging  of  A  as  a  work- 
man by  B.  When  neither  of  the  parties  to  the  bargain 
is  a  corporation  or  an  organization,  the  transaction  is 
strictly  within  the  limits  of  the  individual  bargain. 
Confining  our  view  to  the  field  of  services,  we  see  that 
this  method  has  been,  down  to  comparatively  mod- 
ern times,  the  usual  practice  with  respect  to  the  labor 
contract.  For  example,  John  Smith,  living  in  Lynn, 
Massachusetts,  comes  to  the  foreman  of  one  of  the 
numerous  shoe  factories  located  in  the  city,  and  asks 
what  they  are  paying  for  labor,  by  the  day  or  the  piece, 
and  if  he  can  get  employment.  He  is  told  that  they  are 
paying  two  dollars  per  day,  and  would  like  to  engage 
him.  He  accej)ts  this  offer,  work  is  given  him,  and  he 
takes  his  place  in  the  factory.  This  is  a  bargain  purely 
between  John  Smith,  employee,  and  Thomas  Jones, 
employer,  the  head  of  the  factory.  If  the  foreman  be- 
comes dissatisfied  with  the  quality  of  the  work  which 
is  done  by  John  Smith,  or  if  he  thinks  that  John  Smith 
is  not  doing  his  full  duty  at  the  machine  or  the  bench, 
John  Smith  is  asked  to  call  at  the  office  to  get  the 
wages  which  are  his  due,  and  he  receives  notice  that 
his  services  are  no  longer  desired.  Accordingly,  he 
leaves  the  employ  of  the  firm  and  has  nothing  more  to 
do  with  it  or  its  workpeople.  The  bargain  is  closed, 
and  this  is  the  recognized  end  of  it. 

One  can  easily  see  how  weak  is  the  position  of  the 
single  workman,  one  of  a  thousand  perhaps,  under 
such  circumstances,  and  how  thoroughly  the  employer 
is  master  of  the  situation.  In  time  the  workmen  come 
to  see  this,  and  they  form  a  union,  especially  and 
mainly  to  reenforce  John  Smith,  the  tjrpical  individual. 


66  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

AH  the  men  in  the  shop  join  the  union,  and  soon  they 
present  some  demand,  as  an  organization,  to  the  head 
of  the  shop.  For  instance,  they  ask  that,  after  the  first 
day  of  January  next,  nine  hours  shall  constitute  the 
working  day  for  twelve  months,  at  a  rate  named.  Let 
us  suppose  that  the  employer  refuses  to  grant  these 
terms.  If  he  is  acting  for  and  by  himself  alone,  he 
suffers  from  the  superior  organization  of  his  men. 
Although,  as  Professor  Marshall  says,  he  is  in  himseK 
a  kind  of  combination,  he  is  not  so  strong,  probably, 
as  the  trade-union,  made  up,  not  only  of  his  own  work- 
men, but  also  of  the  workmen  in  the  other  factories. 
Suppose,  then,  that  all  the  manufacturers  in  the  boot 
and  shoe  business  in  the  city  of  Lynn  form  an  associ- 
ation. Then  all  the  trade-unions  in  that  industry  in 
Lynn,  through  a  district  council  representing  the  boot 
and  shoe  workers  of  the  city,  may  vote  to  make  a  de- 
mand on  the  employers'  association  for  higher  wages 
and  certain  specific  improvements  in  the  conditions  of 
their  labor.  If  both  the  union  and  the  association  are 
well  advised,  the  John  Smiths  federated  will  meet  the 
Thomas  Joneses  federated,  through  representatives 
from  both  sides.  This  joint  body  will  elect  a  chairman 
and  proceed  to  discuss  the  questions  connected  with 
the  desired  bargain  for  the  ensuing  year,  and  will 
come  to  some  kind  of  a  compromise.  This  is  collective 
bargaining  —  actual  bargaining,  with  all  its  demands 
and  counter-demands,  its  threats  and  its  concessions  — 
between  two  bodies,  one  the  successor  of  the  individual 
buyer  and  the  other  the  successor  of  the  individual 
seller.  The  joint  agreement  of  the  two  unions  or  asso- 
ciations is  the  successor  of  the  more  or  less  formal 
agreement  of  the  two  persons  engaged  in  the  individ- 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  67 

ual  bargaining.  As  we  have  seen,  the  workingmen  of 
this  country  have  learned  the  lesson  of  organization 
better  than  American  employers,  as  a  body,  have  yet 
done.  So  far  as  formal  association  is  concerned,  the 
superiority  of  the  employees  is  very  evident. 

Collective  bargaining  may  be  practised  with  every 
degree  of  formality  or  informality.  The  most  informal 
proceeding  of  the  sort  may  take  place  in  a  certain  fac- 
tory when  some  change  is  desired  by  numerous  em- 
ployees, or  by  the  whole  body  of  them.  After  more  or 
less  of  private  discussion,  they  meet  together  after  work 
hours,  and  agree  to  send  a  committee  to  present  to  the 
employers  their  grievances  or  suggestions.  If  these 
find  a  friendly  reception,  the  bargaining  is  consum- 
mated. It  is  not  necessary  to  these  simpler  methods 
of  collective  bargaining  that  either  party,  or  both 
parties,  should  be  formally  organized.  The  single  em- 
ployer (himself  a  quasi-Gomhmsiiion)  and  the  unorgan- 
ized employees  can  easily  come  together  in  what  is 
very  informal,  but  very  effective,  collective  bargaining, 
in  case  the  two  parties  make  an  agi-eement  concerning 
the  matter  in  question.  The  most  highly  developed  and 
formal  collective  bargaining  takes  place,  on  the  other 
hand,  when  the  bargain  is  between  a  national  trade- 
union  on  one  side  and  a  national  association  of  em- 
ployers on  the  other  side,  the  bargain  being  set  down 
precisely  in  writing,  and  running  for  an  agreed  term 
of  years.  Such  collective  bargains  are  often  called 
"  Joint  Agreements  "  ^  in  the  United  States,  and  they 

^  This  term  is  not  so  satisfactory  as  "  collective  bargain."  All 
agreements  whatever  being  necessarily  joint  agreements,  the  peculiar 
nature  of  the  contract,  in  tliat  it  is  between  two  bodies  of  men,  is  not 
indicated  by  the  words.  "  Collective  agreements  "  is  the  better  phrase, 
used  a  number  of  times  by  the  Royal  Commission  on  Labour  (Final 
Report,  pp.  ."j4.  116). 


68  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

have  been  made  in  some  instances  to  cover  three,  or 
even  five,  years  to  come. 

To  give  the  most  specific  and  concrete  character  pos- 
sible to  this  discussion  of  collective  bargaining,  I  shall 
present  in  this  chapter  several  collective  agreements 
which  have  been,  or  now  are,  in  force  m  different  in- 
dustries. Detailed  comment  will  be  needless,  as  they 
are  self-explanatory.  But  first  a  specimen  may  be  given 
of  "  agreements  "  which  may  have  been  called  "  joint 
agreements,"  but  which  might  have  been  more  properly 
styled  "  articles  of  dictation."  The  agreements  made 
in  1899  between  the  organized  carpenters  of  Chicago, 
and  of  New  York,  and  individual  employers  deserve 
indeed  the  name  of  "  leonine  contracts,"  —  contracts 
forced  upon  one  party  by  the  other,  and  not  the  result 
of  a  true  collective  bargaining  process  in  which  both 
parties  are,  in  a  large  measure  at  least,  free  contrac- 
tors. The  following  agreement  is  a  sample  of  docu- 
ments submitted  in  April,  1899,  by  the  Carpenters 
Executive  Council  of  Chicago  and  the  vicinity  to  indi- 
vidual master  carpenters,  and  signed  by  them. 

Articles  of  agreement  between  T.  Nicholson  &  Sons  Co., 
contracting  carpenters  and  builders,  party  of  the  first  part, 
and  the  Carpenters  Executive  Council  of  Chicago,  party  of 
the  second  part. 

The  party  of  the  first  part  covenants  and  agrees,  in  con- 
sideration of  the  strict  observance  by  the  party  of  the  second 
part  of  certain  rules,  regulations,  and  obligations  herein  set 
forth,  that  he  or  they  will  faithfully  keep  and  strictly  ob- 
serve the  following  rules : 

Article  I.  Eight  (8)  hours  shall  constitute  a  day's  work 
between  the  hours  of  8  A.  m.  and  5  p.  M.,  except  Saturday, 
when  work  shall  cease  at  12  o'clock  noon. 

Art.  II.    The  minimum  rate  of  wages  for  a  journeyman 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  69 

carpenter  shall  be  forty-two  and  one  half  (42 1)  cents  per 
hour,  from  April  1,  1899,  to  March  31,  1900. 

Akt.  III.  Double  time  shall  be  allowed  on  all  overtime, 
Sunday  work.  New  Year's  Day,  Decoration  Day,  Fourth  of 
July,  Thanksgiving  Day,  Christmas  Day,  or  days  celebrated 
for  the  foregoing.  No  work  shall  be  allowed  under  any  pre- 
tence on  Labor  Day,  which  shall  be  the  first  Monday  in 
September,  or  after  12  o'clock  noon  on  Saturday.  But  if 
two  or  more  shifts  of  men  are  employed,  the  same  men 
shall  not  be  allowed  to  work  on  more  than  one  shift  under 
any  circumstances,  and  six  hours  shall  constitute  a  night 
shift,  and  the  wages  for  such  six  (6)  hours  shall  be  equiva- 
lent to  eight  (8)  hours  during  day. 

Akt.  IV.  Every  journeyman  carpenter  shall  receive  his 
pay  in  full  each  week  on  Tuesday,  not  later  than  5  p.  m., 
but  in  case  of  discharge  he  must  be  paid  at  once  on  the  job 
or  waiting  time  paid.  In  case  of  a  temporary  lay-off  for 
any  cause  whatever,  he  shall  be  paid  in  full  if  he  so  de- 
mands. 

Art.  V.  All  apprentices  shall  belong  to  the  union  and 
carry  the  current  working  card,  but  no  one  shall  be  allowed 
to  work  as  an  apprentice  after  having  attained  the  age  of 
twenty-one  (21)  years. 

Art.  VI.  There  shall  be  a  steward  appointed  by  the  car- 
penters on  each  job,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  see  that  all 
carpenters  employed  shall  carry  the  current  working  card 
issued  by  the  Carpenters  Executive  Council,  and  report  any 
violations  of  the  articles  contained  in  this  agreement. 

Art.  VII.  The  foreman  controlling  any  job  shall  belong 
to  the  union,  carry  the  current  working  card  issued  by  the 
Carpenters  Executive  Council,  and  see  that  all  provisions 
of  this  agreement  are  strictly  enforced. 

Art.  VIII.  The  properly  credentialed  agents  of  the  party 
of  the  second  part  shall  have  access  to  any  work  under  con- 
struction by  the  parties  of  the  first  part  during  working 
hours. 

Art.  IX.    The  party  of  the  first  part  agrees  to  hire  none 


70  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

but  union  carpenters  in  good  standing,  carrying  the  current 
working  card  issued  by  the  Carpenters  Executive  Council. 
In  cases  of  a  company  of  contractors  only  one  member  of 
the  firm  will  be  allowed  to  work  with  tools. 

Art.  X.  A  sympathetic  strike  when  ordered  to  protect 
the  union  principles  herein  laid  down  shall  not  be  a  viola- 
tion of  this  agreement. 

Art.  XI.  The  party  of  the  first  part  shall  not  be  allowed 
to  lump,  piece  out,  or  sublet  any  of  his  carpenter  work  ; 
neither  shall  any  journeyman  who  is  a  member  of  any  asso- 
ciation represented  in  the  Carpenters  Executive  Council  be 
permitted  to  take  piecework  in  any  shape  or  manner. 

Art.  XII.  Any  violation  of  the  provisions  of  this  agree- 
ment by  the  party  of  the  first  part  shall  be  considered  a  just 
cause  by  the  party  of  the  second  part  for  ordering  all  car- 
penter work  to  cease. 

In  these  articles  '"  practically  every  clause  was  a 
covenant  on  the  part  of  the  employer  to  do  certain 
things.  The  union  placed  themselves  under  virtually 
no  obligations,  and  the  only  penalty  clause  in  the  con- 
tract was  one  declaring  that  any  violation  of  its  pro- 
visions by  the  employer  should  be  considered  a  just 
cause  for  the  ordering  of  a  strike."  ^  This  will  serve 
as  an  example  of  what  a  real  joint  agTeement  ought 
not  to  be,  as  it  is  so  evidently  one-sided.  It  illustrates 
forcibly  what  has  been  said  about  the  importance  of 
combination  among  employers,  that  they  may  bargain 
on  terms  of  equality  with  the  unions.  The  T.  Nichol- 
son &  Sons  Company  was  an  unorganized  firm,  quite 
in  the  power  of  the  well-organized  carpenters,  and  the 
natural  result  is  seen  in  this  agTeement,  and  in  the 
note  of  January,  1900,  sent  to  the  various  contrac- 
tors :  — 

^  Report  of  the  Industrial  Commission,  vol.  xvii.  p.  384. 


COLLECTIVE   BARGAINING  71 

Dear  Sir  :  —  We  beg  to  inform  you  after  April  1,  1900, 

the  demands  of  the  carpenters  will  be  for  a  minimum  wage 

scale  of  fifty  (50)  cents  per  hour.     We  will  be  prepared  to 

receive  signatures  to  our  new  agreement  after  March   1. 

Respectfully  yours, 

Carpenters  Executive  Council, 
per  Luke  Grant,  Secretary, 

Dictation  by  the  employer,  once  the  rule,  has  given 
place  here  to  dictation  by  the  union. 

An  agreement  that  bears  the  marks  of  actual  bar- 
gaining m  the  unposition  of  duties  upon  both  parties 
to  it  is  that  which  the  New  York  City  Brotherhood  of 
Electrical  Workers  No.  3  made  in  1900  with  individ- 
ual contractors.  I  give  the  form  from  vol.  xvii.  of  the 
Industrial  Commission  Report  (p.  415),  as  a  specimen 
of  a  collective  agreement  between  a  single  employer 
and  a  local  union. 

It  is  hereby  agreed,  by  and  between (contractors) , 

party  of  the  first  part,  hereinafter  called  the  contractor,  and 
the  Brotherhood  of  Electrical  Workers  No.  3,  of  New  York, 
party  of  the  second  part,  hereinafter  called  the  union  :  — 

First.  That  this  agreement  shall  apply  only  to  all  elec- 
trical work  undertaken  by ,  the  contractor,  within  the 

territory  covered  by  a  radius  of  twenty-five  miles,  with  New 
York  City  Hall  as  its  centre. 

Second.  That  this  agreement  shall  go  into  effect  May  1, 
1900,  for  a  period  of  two  years,  to  May  1,  1902,  and  if 
any  change  is  contemplated  by  either  party  at  its  termina- 
tion, notice  in  writing  shall  be  given  by  the  party  contem- 
plating the  change,  stating  fully  what  the  proposed  change 
is,  at  least  three  months  prior  to  the  expiration  of  the  agree- 
ment, such  notice  to  be  legally  served  upon  the  other  party, 
and  that  if  no  such  notice  is  received  at  least  three  months 
prior  to  the  expiration  of  this  agreement  it  shall  continue 


72  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

in  force  for  another  year  subject  to  another  similar  three 
months'  notice. 

Third.  Any  contractor  signing  this  agreement  shall  em- 
ploy No.  3  men  exclusively  on  all  electrical  construction 
work  undertaken  by  said  contractor  within  the  twenty-five 
mile  limit. 

Fourth.  In  the  event  of  a  dispute,  a  conference  shall  be 
held  by  a  committee  within  twenty-four  hours  after  notice 
is  served,  consisting  of  three  union  electrical  contractors 
employing  No.  3  men  chosen  by  the  contractor,  and  three 
members  of  the  union,  who  shall  endeavor  to  adjust  the 
same.  A  failure  to  attend  conference  within  twenty-four 
hours  shall  be  considered  a  violation  of  this  agreement. 
Expenses  of  this  committee  shall  be  borne  by  the  party 
against  whom  the  decision  is  rendered.  A  fine  of  $50 
shall  be  imposed  upon  the  party  found  guilty  at  the  con- 
ference or  on  decision  of  umpire. 

Fifth.  All  applicants  for  membership,  or  for  helper's 
examination  for  journejonan,  shall  be  obliged  to  pass  an 
examination  by  a  board  of  examiners,  composed  of  union 
journeymen. 

Sixth.  That  as  all  differences  under  this  agreement  are 
to  be  settled  by  arbitration,  no  strike  or  lockout  shall  be 
ordered  by  either  party  hereto,  it  being  understood,  how- 
ever, that  any  sympathetic  strike  or  lockout,  in  which  either 
party  is  obliged  to  take  part  on  account  of  its  affiliation 
with  any  central  body  of  employees  or  employers,  shall  not 
be  considered  a  violation  of  this  agreement.  It  is  also 
agreed  that  the  contractor  shall  during  such  sympathetic 
strike  hire  no  new  men  until  the  striking  men  are  employed 
first.  The  union  reserves  the  right  to  refuse  to  work  on  any 
job  where  other  than  members  of  this  union  are  employed 
on  electrical  work. 

Seventh.  That  no  rules  or  by-laws  shall  be  made  or  con- 
tinued in  force  by  either  party  which  in  any  way  conflict 
with  the  provisions  of  this  agreement. 

Working  rules  to  be  observed  by  both  parties  :  — 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  73 

Rule  1.  The  hours  of  labor  shall  be  eight  hours  per  day, 
to  be  performed  between  the  hours  of  8  A.  M.  and  5  p.  m. 
for  five  days  per  week,  and  from  8  A.  m.  to  12  noon  on 
Saturdays. 

Rule  2.  That  all  work  done  between  12  M.  and  5  P.  M. 
on  Saturdays  be  paid  for  at  double  the  rate  of  wages. 

Rule  3.  Any  labor  performed  before  8  A.  m.  or  after  5 
p.  M.  shall  be  paid  for  at  double  the  regular  rate  of  wages. 
All  labor  performed  on  Sundays  and  all  legal  holidays  shall 
be  paid  for  at  double  the  regular  rate  of  wages. 

Rule  4.  Workmen  shall  be  classified  as  f  oUows  :  — 

Journeyman.  —  A  man  who  has  worked  five  years  at  the 
trade  and  who  has  successfully  passed  examination  provided 
herein  and  has  been  admitted  to  the  union. 

A  helper  is  a  member  who  has  passed  an  examination  for 
work  specified  by  the  union  and  has  worked  two  years  at 
the  trade. 

An  apprentice  is  a  boy  registered  by  the  union,  who  is 
employed  to  do  errands,  carry  material  to  or  on  job,  attend 
lockers,  and  assist  journeymen  in  testing,  but  for  no  other 
purpose ;  apprentices  must  not  encroach  on  the  work  of 
helpers  or  work  with  tools. 

An  applicant  for  apprentice  card  must  be  under  19  years 
of  age.  He  must  serve  with  union  apprentice  card  for  two 
years,  or  equivalent  thereto,  satisfactorily  to  the  union. 

All  apprentices  must  report  to  the  union  quarterly  for 
renewal  of  cards,  or  to  the  executive  board  of  the  union  in 
case  of  change  of  employer.  Any  failure  to  comply  with 
above  rule  forfeits  apprentice  card.  Each  shop  is  entitled 
to  one  apprentice.  Shops  having  more  than  ten  journey- 
men are  entitled  to  one  apprentice  additional  for  each  ad- 
ditional ten  journeymen. 

Rule  5.  Each  contractor  is  entitled  to  place  one  helper 
to  each  two  journeymen  on  each  job. 

Rule  6.  Helpers  may  do  journeyman's  work  while  actu- 
ally helping  such  journeyman,  but  must  never  work  alone 
on  any  job  or  part  of  a  job. 


74  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

Rule  7.  All  members  of  the  union  shall  be  paid  weekly 
in  United  States  currency  and  before  5  p.  m.,  and  when  pay 
day  is  on  Saturday,  before  12  m.  noon,  and  not  more  than 
three  days'  pay  shall  in  any  case  be  held  back  in  any  one 
week. 

Rule  8.  In  going  from  the  shop  to  his  work,  or  from  his 
work  to  the  shop,  or  from  job  to  job,  each  workman  shall 
receive  from  Iiis  employer  the  necessary  car-fare. 

Rule  9.  Manhattan  Island  south  of  One  Hundred  and 
Fifty-fifth  Street,  and  Brooklyn  within  the  old  city  line 
shall  be  known  as  the  city  disti'ict.  Outside  of  the  city  dis- 
trict workmen  shall  be  allowed  travelling  time  and  expenses. 

Rule  10.  From  May  1,  1900,  to  May  1,  1902,  the  wages 
of  the  journeyman  shall  be  $4  per  day  of  eight  hours, 
from  8  A.  M.  to  5  p.  M.,  for  five  days  in  a  week,  and  $2 
for  four  hours  on  Saturday,  from  8  A.  M.  to  12  noon. 

Rule  11.  The  foreman  shall  receive  fifty  cents  per  day 
in  excess  of  the  pay  of  a  journeyman. 

A  foreman.  —  Any  member  having  charge  of  construc- 
tion shall  be  classed  as  a  foreman. 

Rule  12.  The  pay  of  the  helpers  shall  be  at  the  rate  of 
$2.50  per  day  of  eight  hours,  five  days  in  a  week,  and  $1.25 
for  four  hours  on  Saturday,  from  8  A.  m.  to  12  noon. 

Rule  13.  When  employees  are  laid  off  they  shall  receive 
their  wages  in  full  on  job  at  time  of  laying  off,  or  at  the 
office  before  5  o'clock,  in  the  employer's  time. 

It  is  a  step  upward  in  the  development  of  collective 
bargaining  when  the  employers  are  organized,  as  well 
as  the  workmen.  Then  an  agreement  may  be  made 
that  can  more  properly  be  called  a  collective  agree- 
ment, in  the  full  sense  of  the  term.  A  good  example 
is  the  two  local  agreements  between  the  Master  Car- 
penters Exchange  of  Cincinnati  and  the  Hamilton 
County  Carpenters  District  Council.^ 

^  B,eport  of  the  Industrial  Commission,  vol.  xvii.  p.  385. 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  75 

It  is  hereby  agreed  by  and  between  the  undersigned, 
the  Master  Carpenters  Exchange,  parties  of  the  first  part, 
and  the  Hamilton  County  Carpenters  District  Council,  par- 
ties of  the  second  part,  and  by  each  and  aU  of  its  mem- 
bers :  — 

1st.  That  from  March  seventeenth  (17th)  to  June  first 
(1st),  1900,  nine  hours  shall  constitute  a  day's  work,  and 
that  the  minimum  rate  of  wages  shall  be  twenty-five  (25) 
cents  per  hour. 

2d.  That  from  June  first  (1st),  1900,  to  March  first  (1st) , 
1901,  eight  (8)  hours  shall  constitute  a  day's  work,  and  that 
the  minimum  rate  of  wages  shall  be  thirty  (30)  cents  per 
hour,  and  that  the  better  class  of  mechanics  are  to  receive 
a  higher  rate  of  wages. 

3d.  That  time  and  one  half  shall  be  allowed  for  over- 
time, and  double  time  for  Sundays,  4th  of  Jidy,  and  Christ- 
mas, 01'  days  that  may  be  celebrated  for  them.  No  work 
shall  be  allowed  on  Labor  Day,  which  shall  be  the  first  (1st) 
Monday  of  September. 

4th.  That  working  hours  shall  be  from  eight  (8)  o'clock 
A.  M.  to  twelve  (12)  o'clock  m.,  and  from  one  (1)  o'clock 
P.  M.  to  five  (5)  o'clock  p.  M.  Except  that  during  the 
months  of  November,  December,  January,  and  February, 
the  hours  shall  be  from  seven-thirty  (7.30)  A.  M.  to  twelve 
o'clock  M.,  and  from  twelve-thirty  (12.30)  o'clock  p.  m.  to 
four  (4)  o'clock  p.  m. 

5th.  That  the  parties  of  the  second  part  hereby  agree 
and  bind  Jthemselves  to  faithfully  enforce  the  above  condi- 
tions as  to  hours  and  wages  upon  building  firms  that  may 
not  be  members  of  the  organization  of  the  first  part,  and 
that  any  proven  violation  of  this  part  of  the  agreement  shall 
lay  all  contracts  in  this  connection  liable  to  be  declared  void. 

It  is  hereby  agreed  by  and  between  the  undersigned, 
the  Master  Carpenters  Exchange  of  Hamilton  County, 
parties  of  the  first  part,  and  the  Hamilton  County  Car- 
penters' District  Council,  parties  of  the  second  part,  and 


76  COLLECTIVE   BARGAINING 

by  each  for  all  its  members,  tbat,  in  order  to  prevent  any 
violation  of  the  agreement  relative  to  hours,  wages,  and  con- 
ditions, as  agreed  to  and  signed  by  both  parties  as  aforesaid, 
there  shaU  be  a  permanent  committee  appointed  by  the 
above-named  exchange  and  council,  consisting  of  an  equal 
number  from  each,  whose  duties  shall  be  to  mutually  adjust 
all  matters  of  differences  or  violations  of  the  agreement  that 
may  occur  from  time  to  time. 

It  is  also  agreed  that  should  any  member  of  any  carpen- 
ters' union  offer  his  services  as  a  journeyman  carpenter  to 
any  member  of  the  exchange  for  less  than  the  rate  of  wages 
already  agreed  on  between  the  exchange  and  council,  or 
shall  rebate,  or  offer  to  rebate,  any  part  of  his  wages  to  his 
employer,  or  any  one  acting  for  his  employer,  the  employer 
shall  secure  the  name  and  address  of  the  offender  and  sub- 
mit it,  with  the  evidence  in  the  case,  to  the  committee  of  his 
exchange.  The  committee  of  the  exchange  shall  as  soon  as 
possible  call  a  meeting  of  the  combined  committee  of  the 
exchange,  together  with  the  committee  of  the  council,  for 
the  purpose  of  consultation,  after  which  the  case  shall  be 
left  with  the  committee  of  the  council  for  settlement. 

It  is  also  agreed  that  should  any  members  of  the  parties 
of  the  second  part  know  of  any  members  of  the  parties  of 
the  first  part  using  any  effort  or  offering  to  employ  any 
parties  of  the  second  part  for  less  than  the  rate  of  wages 
agreed  on,  the  committee  of  the  council  shall  immediately 
notify  the  committee  of  the  exchange  of  the  violation,  with 
the  evidence  in  the  case,  and  call  a  meeting  of  the  joint 
committee  for  the  purpose  of  adjusting  the  matter  as  soon 
as  possible. 

It  is  also  agreed  by  and  between  the  members  of  the  ex- 
change and  council,  to  work  together  for  the  mutual  benefit 
of  the  entire  membersliip  of  both,  and  it  is  hereby  agreed 
that  the  members  of  the  exchange  employ  members  of  our 
locals  connected  with  our  council,  or  those  who  are  satisfied 
to  join  them. 

The  council  on  its  part  agrees  to  furnish  men  to  the  mem- 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  11 

bers  of  the  exchange  at  all  times  in  quantities  desired  when- 
ever possible  to  do  so. 

An  excellent  instance  of  a  local  collective  agreement 
running  for  a  five-year  period  is  that  into  which  the 
Master  Plumbers  and  the  Journeymen  Plumbers  of 
St.  Louis  entered  in  1899. ^  Phmibers  often  make 
agreements  for  more  than  one  year. 

1.  The  hours  of  labor  will  be  from  8  A.  M.  until  5  P.  M., 
with  one  hour  for  dinner.  Saturdays  from  8  A.  M.  to  12  M. 
It  is  expressly  understood  that  the  employee  will  not  quit 
work  before  the  time  specified  herein.  The  wages  wiU  be 
$4  per  day  for  journeymen,  except  Saturdays,  for  which  the 
wages  will  be  $2  for  the  half  day.  Wages  are  due  and  pay- 
able on  each  Saturday  at  office  of  employer  within  one  hour 
after  quitting-time.  This  clause  to  go  into  effect  the  first 
day  of  January,  1900. 

2.  All  overtime  to  be  paid  for  at  time  and  one  half. 
Overtime  after  12  o'clock  M.  and  aU  Sundays  and  the  fol- 
lowing holidays  to  be  paid  for  as  double  time  :  January  1, 
July  4,  Labor  Day,  Thanksgiving  Day,  and  Christmas  Day. 

3.  Journeymen  sent  outside  of  the  city  to  work  shall  be 
subject  to  all  the  conditions  of  this  agreement,  and  in  addi- 
tion thereto  shall  receive  their  railroad  fare  and  board  paid, 
and  when  travelling  at  night  over  100  miles,  sleeper  is  to 
be  furnished.  Travel  during  Sundays  and  week  days  to  be 
at  single  time  (regular  rate)  and  no  pay  for  night  travel- 
ling. It  is  further  agreed  that  master  plumbers  may  liire 
plumbers  belonging  to  a  local  union,  in  the  place  they  may 
have  work,  at  the  local  union  wages. 

4.  All  car-fare  in  excess  of  what  it  would  cost  to  go  to 
and  from  shop  to  be  paid  by  employer.  It  is  expressly  un- 
derstood that  journeymien  shall  go  direct  from  their  homes 
to  their  work,  except  on  such  occasions  as  when  material  is 
required,  or  for  consultation  with  employer. 

■*  See  the  Report  of  the  Industrial  Commission,  vol.  xvii.  pp.  390,  ?>91, 


78  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

5.  No  general  strike  shall  be  ordered  in  a  shop  by  any 
officer  of  the  Journeymen  Plumbers  Association  without  first 
submitting  grievance  to  the  joint  conference  committee.  The 
decision  of  a  majority  of  said  committee  shall  be  binding  on 
both  parties.  The  chairman  of  conference  board  shall  call 
a  meeting  at  some  regularly  appointed  place  within  twenty- 
four  hours  of  the  time  that  grievance  is  submitted  to  him. 

6.  It  is  expressly  understood  that  no  member  of  the 
Journeymen  Plumbers  Association  wiU  work  in  any  build- 
ing where  any  person  or  firm  proposes  to  or  does  set  up  any 
plumbing  material  or  plumbing  fixture  not  furnished  by 
their  employer. 

7.  It  is  expressly  understood  and  agreed  that  the  parties 
to  and  of  this  agreement  will  not  handle  or  put  in  the  fol- 
lowing goods,  viz. :  Drum  traps  with  outlets  or  screws  at- 
tached, lead  pipes  with  ferrules  or  soldering  nipples,  lead-pipe 
couplers,  rubber  vent  connections,  long  traps  with  ferrules 
attached,  saine  to  cover  all  sizes.  Joints  on  coupHngs  and 
ferrules  to  be  wiped  in  all  cases.  AU  soil-pipe  joints  to  be 
calked  with  oakum  and  lead  in  all  cases.  A  rust  joint  may 
be  used.  AU  bath-tub  traps  that  are  placed  under  floor  to 
be  drum  traps,  same  to  be  made  by  plumber. 

8.  The  members  of  the  Journeymen  Plumbers  Associa- 
tion will  not  work  for  any  one  under  any  circumstances  for 
less  than  the  regular  rate  of  wages  agreed  upon  in  this 
agreement.  All  violations  of  this  article  shall  be  in  charge 
of  the  joint  conference  committee  of  both  associations. 

9.  A  sympathetic  sti'ike  when  ordered  by  the  Building 
Trades  Council  wiU  not  be  considered  a  violation  of  this 
agreement ;  the  master  plumber  to  have  sufficient  notice  to 
protect  his  material. 

10.  There  will  be  no  more  new  apprentices  or  juniors 
hired  during  the  term  of  this  agreement,  but  all  apprentices 
who  are  registered  by  the  joint  association  shall  be  permitted 
to  complete  their  time,  which  will  be  five  and  a  half  years, 
and  at  the  expiration  of  same  shall  receive  journeymen's 
wages,  but  in  no  case  shall  there  be  more  than  one  apprentice 


COLLECTIVE   BARGAINING  79 

employed  in  a  shop  at  one  time.  It  is  also  expressly  under- 
stood that  the  employer  shall  have  complete  control  of  the 
apprentice  during  his  term  of  apprenticeship.  The  joint 
association  pledge  themselves  to  do  all  in  their  power  to 
advance  the  mental,  moral,  and  mechanical  education  of  its 
enrolled  apprentices.  This  clause  may  be  changed  or  modi- 
fied when  the  national  joint  apprenticeship  committee  passes 
a  national  apprenticeship  law. 

11.  In  no  case  shall  a  plumber  be  employed  without  hav- 
ing a  clear  card,  or  provisions  made  for  one,  by  employer. 
In  no  case  shall  an  apprentice  be  employed  where  journey- 
men are  not  employed.  In  no  case  shall  apprentices  be  in 
a  majority. 

12.  It  is  agreed  that  when  the  joint  conference  board  is 
not  satisfied  that  this  agreement  is  being  strictly  lived  up  to, 
said  board  shall  have  power  to  cause  such  investigation  as 
they  see  fit.  The  finding  of  said  board  on  all  matters  shall 
be  final  and  binding  on  both  associations. 

13.  Only  one  (1)  member  of  a  firm  will  be  allowed  to 
handle  tools,  and  he  shall  have  in  his  possession,  when  en- 
gaged in  work,  a  card  issued  by  the  joint  conference  board. 
Any  master  plumber  working  on  job  where  men  have  been 
called  out,  unless  he  shall  have  received  permission  from  the 
conference  board,  shall  be  declared  unfair. 

14.  No  member  of  the  Journeymen  Plumbers  Associa- 
tion shall  work  for  any  other  than  a  member  in  good  stand- 
ing of  the  Association  of  Master  Plumbers,  and  no  member 
of  the  Association  of  Master  Plumbers  shall  employ  others 
than  members  in  good  standing  of  the  Association  of  Jour- 
neymen Plumbers. 

15.  The  conference  board  shall  consist  of  three  members 
of  each  association  and  the  presidents  of  same,  who  shall  be 
empowered  to  vote.  Whenever  a  member  of  the  conference 
board  becomes  a  prosecutor  or  a  defendant,  he  shall  tem- 
porarily vacate  his  seat,  and  his  place  shall  be  filled  by  some 
other  member  of  his  organization,  or  by  proxy  vote  placed 
with  one  of  his  colleagues. 


80  .        COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

16.  This  agreement  in  duplicate  form  shall  receive  the 
signatures  of  the  officers  and  seals  of  both  associations  and 
shall  become  effective  when  so  signed  and  remain  so  for  a 
period  of  five  years  until  the  18th  of  September,  1904. 

17.  A  copy  of  this  agreement  shall  be  conspicuously  dis- 
played in  each  shop  where  said  board  has  jurisdiction. 

Next  in  the  order  of  evolution  of  collective  agree- 
ments, we  meet  the  agreement  between  a  national 
union  and  an  association  of  employers  which  is  more 
than  local,  but  not  national  in  its  scojie.  We  can  il- 
lustrate this  phase  by  the  very  successful  agreement 
between  the  International  Longshoremen's  Association 
and  its  local  organizations  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  the 
Association  made  up  of  the  managers  of  coal  and  ore 
docks  in  the  lower  Lake  Erie  ports  of  Ohio,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  New  York.  The  general  agreement  is 
followed  by  one  of  the  special  exhibits,  given  as  a  spe- 
cimen of  the  scales  and  conditions  governing  the  sepa- 
rate unions.^ 

Agreement  made  and  entered  into  at  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
the  fifteenth  day  of  March,  1901,  by  and  between  the  In- 
ternational Longshoremen's  Association,  by  its  officers  duly 
authorized,  and  the  respective  local  organizations  thereof,  by 
their  duly  authorized  officers,  who  have  attached  their  names 
to  this  agreement  as  first  party,  and  the  Dock  Managers, 
owning  docks  at  the  lake  ports,  who  have  attached  their 
names  to  this  agreement  as  second  party. 

WlTJTESSETH  : 

1.  This  agreement  is  made  for  the  season  of  navigation 
of  1901. 

2.  There  are  attached  hereto,  as  a  part  of  this  agreement, 
schedules  of  wages  marked  Exhibits  "  A,"  "  B,"  "  C,"  "  D," 

^  See  Report  of  the  Industrial  Commission,  vol.  xvii.  pp.  371,  372. 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  81 

and  "  E,"  and  made  part  hereof.  Said  schedules  of  wages 
and  all  provisions  therein  contained  are  to  be  respected  by- 
all  the  parties  hereto,  and  are  hereby  agreed  to  for  the  year 
1901,  as  set  forth  in  said  respective  schedules.  The  scale  of 
wages  for  bolsters  and  engineers  to  begin,  as  stated  in  the 
schedule  referring  thereto,  on  May  1st,  1901. 

3.  All  employees  employed  by  the  Dock  Managers  for 
the  purpose  of  performing  the  work  set  forth  in  the  sched- 
ules hereto  attached  shall  be  members  of  the  local  organi- 
zations, whenever  such  men  can  be  had  who  can  perform 
the  work  as  called  for  in  the  contract ;  when  such  men  can- 
not be  had,  the  Dock  Managers  have  the  right  to  secure 
any  other  men  who  can  perform  the  work  in  a  satisfactory 
manner  until  such  time  as  members  of  the  International 
Longshoremen's  Association  can  be  secured;  that  no  man 
shall  be  discharged  without  just  cause,  and  be  notified  of 
the  cause  of  the  discharge. 

4.  The  Dock  Managers  or  Owners  shall  at  all  times  give 
to  the  men  interested  an  opportunity  to  inspect  biUs  of  lad- 
ing or  orders  for  receiving  cargoes  for  the  purpose  of  learn- 
ing or  verifying  the  tonnage  to  be  loaded  or  unloaded. 

5.  It  is  understood  that  occasionally,  when  any  unusual 
work  arises  in  isolated  cases  not  covered  by  this  agreement, 
the  men,  when  called  upon,  shall  perform  such  labor,  and 
the  compensation  therefor  shaU  be  determined  and  adjusted 
between  the  representatives  of  the  local  organizations  and 
the  Dock  Managers  and  Owners,  and,  in  the  event  of  any 
disagreement,  shall  be  arbitrated  as  hereinafter  provided  for 
the  arbitration  of  differences,  controversies,  or  grievances. 

6.  All  items  not  mentioned  in  this  contract  or  the  sched- 
ules hereto  attached  shall  be  performed,  and  all  payments 
shall  be  made  for  work  done  under  this  agreement  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  usual  custom  heretofore  prevailing  upon 
the  respective  docks. 

7.  In  the  event  of  any  controversy  arising  between  the 
men  or  local  organizations  and  the  Dock  Managers  or 
Owners,  or  in  the  event  of  any  of  the  men  or  local  organi- 


82  COLLECTIVE   BARGAINING 

zations  having  any  grievances,  the  men  shall  continue  to 
work,  and  any  and  all  such  controversies  and  grievances 
shall  be  settled,  if  possible,  by  the  representative  of  the  local 
organization  and  the  representative  of  the  Dock  Managers 
or  Owners.  If  such  controversies  and  grievances  cannot  be 
so  settled,  then  they  shall  be  arbitrated,  by  choosing  a  thu-d 
disinterested  man  upon  whom  the  representatives  of  the 
local  organizations  and  the  Dock  Managers  or  Owners  shall 
agree,  and  the  decision  of  any  two  shall  be  final.  If  the 
representative  of  the  local  organization  and  representa- 
tive of  the  Dock  Managers  or  Owners  cannot  agree  upon  a 
third  man,  then  each  side  shall  choose  a  disinterested  man, 
and  the  two  disinterested  men  thus  chosen  to  choose  a 
third  disinterested  man,  and  said  three  men  shall  constitute 
a  board  of  arbitration,  and  the  decision  of  a  majority  of 
said  three  shall  be  final  and  aU  parties  shall  abide  thereby. 
It  is  expressly  agreed  that  said  arbitration  board  shall  meet 
within  ten  days  after  the  occurrence  of  the  difference  requir- 
ing arbitration. 

8.  It  is  distinctly  understood  between  the  Dock  Man- 
agers and  the  representatives  of  the  International  Long- 
shoremen's Association  that  no  beer,  whiskey,  or  other  intoxi- 
cating liquors  shall  be  brought  upon  the  property  of  the 
Dock  Managers. 

9.  It  is  also  distinctly  understood  that  no  men  in  an  in- 
toxicated condition  or  under  the  influence  of  liquor  shall  be 
permitted  upon  the  property  of  the  Dock  Managers. 

10.  That  none  of  the  companies'  employees  employed  by 
the  hour  or  month  shall  be  permitted  to  leave  the  dock  dur- 
ing working  hours  without  permission,  nor  tonnage  men 
when  labor  is  to  be  performed. 

11.  Pure  and  fresh  drinking  water  with  oatmeal  and  ice 
shall  be  provided  on  the  dock  where  the  men  are  employed. 

12.  When  a  Local  at  any  dock  quits  or  refuses  to  work 
on  a  vessel,  it  shall  be  considered  a  violation  of  contract, 
and  the  vessel  may  be  sent  to  any  other  dock  or  port  gov- 
erned by  this  agreement,  where  she  shall  be  discharged  or 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  83 

finished,  under  the  rules  of  this  contract,  in  the  same  man- 
ner as  though  she  had  originally  been  consigned  there ;  and 
the  men  so  finishing  the  cargo  shall  receive  the  entire  pay 
for  discharging  or  loading  all  of  the  cargo  of  said  vessel, 
and  the  men  so  refusing  to  vrork  on  said  vessel  shall  be 
discharged,  with  the  provision  that  this  section  applies  only 
to  docks  covered  by  this  agreement. 

EXHIBIT  A. 

We,  the  representatives  of  the  Locals  of  Ore  Shovelers, 
do  hereby  agree  and  accept  the  scale  and  conditions  for 
the  navigation  season  of  1901 :  — 

1st,  From  the  opening  of  navigation  to  September  14th 
tvrelve  hours  shall  constitute  a  day's  vrork,  and  from  Sep- 
tember loth  to  the  close  of  navigation  eleven  hours  shall 
constitute  a  day's  work. 

2d.  That  the  price  to  be  paid  for  unloading  ore,  pig 
iron,  limestone,  and  alabaster  rock  from  vessels  shall  be  13 
cents  per  ton. 

3d.  That  25  cents  per  hour  shall  be  paid  for  overtime. 

4th.  That  the  price  that  shall  be  paid  for  loading  ore 
from  dock  by  machine  shall  be  7  ^  cents  per  ton  at  all  ports, 
except  T.  and  O.  C.  Dock,  Toledo,  where  10  cents  shall  be 
paid. 

5th.  That  the  price  that  shall  be  paid  for  loading  ore 
from  dock  by  hand  shall  be  9^  cents  per  ton,  except  San- 
dusky, 12^  cents,  and  T.  and  O.  C.  Dock,  Toledo,  11  cents. 

6th.  That  the  price  that  shall  be  paid  for  transferring 
ore  and  pig  iron  from  cars  to  dock  shall  be  10  cents  per 
hour. 

7th.  All  day  work  shall  be  paid  for  at  the  rate  of  19 
cents  per  hour,  overtime  25  cents  per  hour  additional. 

8th.  That  gang  bosses  shall  be  selected  by  the  superin- 
tendent of  the  dock.  It  is  understood  that  they  be  members 
of  the  I.  L.  A. 

9th.  Where  vessels  come  to  the  dock  with  water  in  the 


84  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

hold,  and  it  is  necessary  for  some  men  to  lay  off  on  account 
of  water,  such  men  shall  be  paid  at  the  rate  of  50  cents  per 
hour  until  such  water  is  freed,  the  understanding  being  that 
no  boat  shall  be  considered  wet  unless  the  water  '\s\\  inches 
deep  in  the  centre  of  the  majority  of  the  hatches  being 
worked,  after  room  has  been  made  to  take  care  of  tlu-ee 
buckets  on  the  bottom  ;  and  where  boat  is  being  worked  on 
the  wing,  water  must  average  4  feet  or  more  from  the  wing 
before  any  action  shall  be  taken  in  regard  to  vessel  being 
considered  wet.  The  idle  men  shall  be  distributed  over 
hatches  to  enable  vessel  to  work  to  the  best  advantage.  The 
men  shall  return  to  work  at  regular  rate  as  soon  as  water  is 
below  skin.  Where  it  is  impossible  to  free  a  vessel  from  water 
in  two  hours  after  the  water  has  been  discovered,  double 
tonnage  shall  be  paid  on  balance  of  the  cargo. 

10th.  Legal  holidays  shall  mean  Decoration  Day,  Fourth 
of  July,  Labor  Day,  and  Thanksgiving  Day.  No  other  holi- 
days to  be  recognized. 

11th.  That  there  shall  be  no  work  on  Sundays  or  legal 
holidays  unless  vessels  are  in  a  wrecked  condition  and  water 
in  the  hold,  and  then  double  tonnage  shall  be  paid  and  over- 
time at  the  rate  of  25  cents  per  hour  to  each  man  employed. 

12th.  In  cases  where  men  are  taken  from  the  boat  when 
working  in  vessel  to  load  cars  on  dock,  they  shall  receive 
the  same  scale  as  earned  on  the  boat. 

13th.  The  turn  of  the  gangs  shall  be  as  follows :  First 
gang  unloaded  shall  be  the  first  gang  in ;  the  time  to  be 
taken  by  the  superintendent  of  the  dock  or  his  representa- 
tive, as  to  the  finishing  of  the  vessel.  His  decision  shall  be 
final  and  binding  on  the  gang. 

14th.  That  25  cents  per  hour  shall  be  paid  to  the  gang 
doing  the  work  for  moving  machinery  over  turntable  from 
the  time  first  leg  gets  within  100  feet  from  turntable  until 
last  leg  has  passed  over  turntable. 

15th.  At  all  ports  where  business  of  the  dock  is  greater 
than  day  gang  can  handle,  double  shifts  can  be  worked  at 
the  regular  scale  of  wages  for  day  work. 


COLLECTIVE   BARGAINING  85 

16th.  Overtime  shall  be  worked  on  all  docks  where  re- 
quired by  the  superintendent. 

A  farther  logical  development  in  collective  bargain- 
ing is  seen  when  an  agreement  is  made  between  a  na- 
tional association  of  manufacturers,  on  one  side,  and  a 
national  trade-union,  on  the  other.  Dr.  Durand  gives 
to  such  an  agreement  which  has  existed  since  1891  be- 
tween the  Stove  Founders  National  Defense  Associa- 
tion and  the  Iron  Molders  Union  of  Noi-th  America, 
the  credit  of  being  "  one  of  the  most  effective  systems 
of  collective  bargaining  and  arbitration  to  be  found  in 
any  trade."  I  insert  the  substance  of  it  as  it  is  now  m 
force,  omitting  the  preamble  and  some  minor  articles. 
It  will  be  observed  that  it  does  not  give  a  detailed 
scale  of  wages,  but  includes  only  general  stipulations 
as  to  the  manner  in  which  wages  and  hours  and  other 
conditions  shall  be  regulated. 

Resolved,  That  this  meeting  adopt  the  principle  of  ar- 
bitration in  the  settlement  of  any  dispute  between  the  mem- 
bers of  the  I.  M.  U.  of  N.  A.  and  the  members  of  the  S.  F. 
N.  D.  A. 

That  a  conference  committee  be  formed  consisting  of  six 
members,  three  of  whom  shall  be  stove  molders  aj^pointed 
by  the  Iron  Holders'  Union  of  North  America,  and  three 
persons  appointed  by  the  S.  F.  N.  D.  A.,  all  to  hold  office 
from  May  1  to  April  30  of  each  year. 

Whenever  there  is  a  dispute  between  a  member  of  the  S. 
F.  N.  D.  A.  and  the  molders  in  his  employ  (when  a  ma- 
jority of  the  latter  are  members  of  the  I.  M.  U.)  and  it  can- 
not be  settled  amicably  between  them,  it  shall  be  referred 
to  the  presidents  of  the  two  associations  before  named,  who 
shall  themselves  or  by  delegates  give  it  due  consideration. 
If  they   cannot  decide  it  satisfactorily  to  themselves  they 


86  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

may,  by  mutual  agreement,  summon  the  conference  commit- 
tee, to  whom  the  dispute  shall  be  referred  and  whose  deci- 
sion by  a  majority  vote  shall  be  final,  and  binding  upon 
each  party  for  the  term  of  twelve  months. 

Pending  adjudication  by  the  presidents  and  conference 
committee,  neither  party  to  the  dispute  shall  discontinue 
operations,  but  shall  proceed  with  business  in  the  ordinary 
manner.  In  case  of  a  vacancy  in  the  committee  of  confer- 
ence, it  shaU  be  filled  by  the  association  originally  nominat- 
ing. No  vote  shall  be  taken  except  by  a  full  committee,  or 
by  an  even  number  of  each  party. 

Apprentices  should  be  given  every  opportunity  to  learn  all 
the  details  in  the  trade  thoroughly,  and  should  be  required 
to  serve  four  years.  Any  apprentice  leaving  his  employer 
before  the  termination  of  his  apprenticeship  should  not  be 
permitted  to  work  in  any  foundry  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  I.  M.  U.  of  N.  A.,  but  should  be  required  to  retm'n 
to  his  employer.  An  apprentice  should  not  be  admitted  to 
membership  in  the  I.  M.  U.  of  N.  A.  until  he  has  served 
his  apprenticeship  and  is  comjjetent  to  command  the  average 
wages.  Each  apprentice,  in  the  last  year  of  his  apprentice- 
ship, should  be  given  a  floor  between  two  journeymen  mold- 
ers,  and  they,  with  the  foreman,  should  pay  special  atten- 
tion to  liis  mechanical  education  in  all  classes  of  work. 

The  general  rate  of  molders'  wages  should  be  established 
for  each  year  without  change. 

When  the  members  of  the  Defense  Association  shall  de- 
sire a  general  reduction  in  the  rate  of  wages,  or  the  Molders 
Union  an  advance,  they  shall  each  give  the  other  notice  at 
least  thirty  days  before  the  end  of  each  year,  which  shall 
commence  on  the  first  day  of  A})ril.  If  no  such  notice  be 
given,  the  rate  of  wages  current  during  the  year  shall  be  the 
rate  in  force  for  the  succeeding  year. 

The  present  established  price  of  work  in  any  shop  should 
be  the  basis  for  the  determination  of  the  price  of  new  work 
of  similar  character  and  grade,  unless  the  presidents  of  the  two 
organizations,  or  their  representatives,  shall  decide  that  the 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  87 

established  prices  of  similar  work  in  the  shop  are  not  in 
accord  with  the  price  of  competitive  goods  made  in  the  dis- 
trict. 

Any  existing  inequality  in  present  prices  of  molding  in  a 
foundry  or  between  two  or  more  foundries  should  be  ad- 
justed as  soon  as  pi-acticable  upon  the  basis  set  forth  in  the 
foregoing  paragraphs,  by  mutual  agreement  or  by  the  deci- 
sion of  the  adjustment  committee  provided  by  the  conference 
of  March,  1891. 

Stove  manufacturers,  members  of  the  S.  F.  N.  D.  A., 
shall  furnish  in  their  respective  foundries  a  book  containing 
the  piece-prices  for  molding,  the  same  to  be  placed  in  the 
care  of  the  foreman  of  the  foundry  and  a  responsible  molder, 
agreeable  to  both  employer  and  employees,  said  book  to  be 
placed  in  a  locker  on  molding  floor,  to  wliich  the  foreman 
and  the  molder  so  elected  shall  each  carry  a  key. 

New  work  should  always  be  priced  witliin  a  reasonable 
time,  and  under  ordinary  circumstances  two  weeks  would 
be  considered  a  reasonable  time,  and  such  prices,  when  de- 
cided upon,  should  be  paid  from  the  date  the  work  is  put  in 
the  sand. 

The  members  of  the  S.  F.  N.  D.  A.  shall  furnish  to  their 
molders :  Shovels,  riddles,  rammers,  brushes,  facing-bags, 
bellows  and  strike-off,  provided,  however,  that  they  charge 
at  actual  cost  tools  so  furnished,  and  collect  for  the  same, 
adopting  some  method  of  identification  ;  and  when  a  molder 
abandons  the  shop,  or  requires  a  new  tool  in  place  of  one  so 
furnished,  he  shall,  upon  the  return  of  the  old  tools,  be 
allowed  the  full  price  charged,  without  deducting  for  ordi- 
nary wear ;  and  damage  beyond  ordinary  wear  to  be  de- 
ducted from  amount  to  be  refunded. 

Whenever  a  difficulty  arises  between  a  member  of  the 
S.  F.  N.  D.  A.  (whose  foundry  does  not  come  under  the  pro- 
visions of  Clause  3,  1891  conference)  and  the  molders  era- 
ployed  by  him,  and  said  difficulty  cannot  be  amicably  settled 
between  the  member  and  his  employees,  it  shall  be  submitted 
for  adjudication  to  the  presidents  of  the  two  organizations, 


88  COLLECTIVE   BARGAINING 

or  their  representatives,  without  prejudice  to  the  employees 
presenting  said  grievance. 

In  pricing  molding  on  new  stoves  when  there  are  no  com- 
parative stoves  made  in  the  shoji,  the  prices  shall  be  based 
upon  competitive  stoves  made  in  the  district ;  thorough  com- 
parison and  proper  consideration  being  given  to  the  merits 
of  the  work  according  to  labor  involved. 

The  general  trend  of  industrial  development  is  towards 
employing  skilled  labor  as  far  as  practicable,  at  skilled 
work,  and  in  conformance  with  this  tendency,  every  effort 
should  be  made  by  the  members  of  the  S.  F.  N.  D.  A.  and 
the  I.  M.  U.  of  N.  A.  to  enable  the  molder  to  give  seven 
hours  of  service  per  day  at  molding,  and  to  encourage  the 
use  of  unskilled  help  to  perform  such  work  as  sand  cutting, 
and  work  of  like  character,  when  the  molder  can  be  given 
a  full  day's  work. 

Inasmuch  as  it  is  conceded  by  the  members  of  the  S.  F. 
N.  D.  A.  that  the  earnings  of  a  molder  should  exercise  no 
influence  upon  the  molding  price  of  work,  which  is  set,  ac- 
cording to  well-established  precedent  and  rule  of  conference 
agreements,  by  comparison  with  other  work  of  a  like  kind, 
the  placing  of  a  limit  ujion  the  earnings  of  a  molder  in  the 
seven  hours  of  molding,  should  be  discountenanced  in  shops 
of  members  of  the  S.  F.  N.  D.  A. 

When  a  full  floor  of  new  work  is  given  a  molder  he  should 
be  guaranteed  the  day-work  rate  of  pay  for  the  first  day,  in 
order  that  he  may  be  given  an  opportunity  to  get  the  job 
in  good  running  order  for  piece  work ;  if,  however,  the 
molder  should  earn  more  than  the  day-work  rate  he  should 
be  paid  his  full  earnings. 

Where  a  change  of  job  is  made  the  molder  often  loses 
considerable  time  and  is  put  to  great  inconvenience  through 
the  necessary  clamps,  boards,  and  other  facilities  needed  for 
the  job  not  being  supplied  to  him  promptly.  We  beheve  that 
in  well-regidated  shops  that  should  be  made  a  feature  of  the 
shop  management  and  should  be  a  subject  of  favorable  re- 
commendation to  the  members  of  the  S.  F.  N.  D.  A. 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  89 

"  The  principle  of  arbitration "  mentioned  in  the 
first  clause  is  essentially  the  principle  of  collective  bar- 
gaining. The  second  clause  at  once  proceeds  to  define 
and  establish  the  machinery  for  such  bargaining.  In 
a  later  chapter  we  shall  distinguish  more  accurately 
than  popular  usage  and  many  of  these  collective  agree- 
ments do  between  conciliation,  arbitration,  and  collec- 
tive bargaining.  All  the  agreements  given  in  this  chap- 
ter are  instances  of  collective  bargaining  as  the  main 
matter,  whatever  they  contain  in  the  way  of  reference 
to  arbitration  or  conciliation. 

Before  presenting  instances  of  agreements  from  the 
coal  trade  (the  Interstate  and  the  lUinois  contracts), 
which  are  perhaps  the  most  impressive  American  ex- 
amples of  tliis  modern  style  of  bargaining,  we  may  do 
well  to  note  the  naturalness  of  the  development  from 
local  to  national  collective  agreements,  as  shown  spe- 
cifically in  the  printing  business.  The  late  Mr.  S.  E. 
Morss,  editor  and  manager  of  the  Indianapolis  "  Sen- 
tinel," in  a  letter  appended  to  the  Keport  of  the  An- 
thracite Coal  Commission  (p.  237),  wrote  that,  "  The 
'Sentinel'  was  one  of  the  first  newspapers  in  the  coun- 
try, if  not  the  very  first,  to  enter  into  a  time  contract 
with  the  local  typographical  union.  When  I  purchased 
an  interest  in  this  paper  on  February  1,  1888,  a  strike 
of  printers  in  the  morning  newspaper  offices  had  re- 
cently taken  place,  and  all  the  daily  papers  in  the  city 
were  set  up  by  non-union  printers.  One  of  the  first 
things  1  did  was  to  have  a  conference  with  the  officers 
of  the  local  typographical  union.  The  Sentinel  Com- 
pany made  a  contract  with  the  union  which  was,  I  be- 
lieve, to  run  a  certain  length  of  time,  —  three  years,  I 
think.    A  few  months  later  the  other  daily  papers  of 


90  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

the  city  made  similar  contracts  with  the  union,  and 
subsequently  the  newspapers  of  the  city  formed  a  pub- 
lishers' association  for  the  purpose  of  dealing  with  the 
labor  unions,  and  contracts  are  now  made  from  time 
to  time  between  the  publishers'  association  and  the 
local  typographical  union.^   The  results  have  been  en- 

^  I  will  insert  here  a  similar  agreement  between  the  Typothetse 
(the  master  printers)  of  Chicago  and  the  Chicago  Typographical 
Union,  No.  16 :  — 

For  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  just  and  uniform  scale  of  wages 
for  the  members  of  the  Chicago  Typographical  Union,  No.  16,  to  de- 
vise a  means  for  the  settlement  of  controversies  between  the  members 
of  said  union  and  their  employers,  and  to  insure  to  the  employers  a 
settled  rate  of  wages  for  a  certain  period  of  time,  and  also  in  order 
that  strikes  and  lockouts  may  in  the  future  be  avoided,  this  agree- 
ment, by  and  between  the  Chicago  Typothetse  and  the  Chicago  Ty- 
pographical Union,  No.  16,  both  of  the  city  of  Chicago,  in  the  county 
of  Cook  and  State  of  Illinois,  is  made  and  entered  into  on  this  3d  day 
of  June,  1902. 

It  is  understood  that  the  said  Chicago  Typographical  Union,  No.  16, 
is  an  association  of  employees,  and  that  said  Chicago  Typothetse  is 
composed  of  various  firms  and  corporations,  and  that  all  of  said  mem- 
bers of  said  TypothetaB  who  shall  sign  this  agreement  bind  themselves 
to  pay  to  their  employees  wages  according  to  the  schedule  herein  set 
forth,  and  to  conform  to  all  the  terms  and  conditions  of  this  agree- 
ment ;  and  that  should  any  other  firm  or  corporation  not  signing  this 
agreement  become  a  member  of  said  Typothetae  hereafter  and  shall 
sign  this  agreement,  such  firm  or  corporation  shall  become  equally 
bound  to  pay  said  scale  of  wages  and  conform  to  all  of  the  terms  of 
this  agreement ;  and  that  should  any  other  firm  or  corporation  not  a 
member  of  said  TypothetaB  sign  this  agreement,  such  firm  or  corpora- 
tions shall  become  equally  bound  to  pay  said  scale  of  wages  and  to 
conform  to  all  the  conditions  of  this  agreement. 

The  said  Typothetae,  for  and  on  behalf  of  said  firms  and  corpora- 
tions, covenants  and  agrees  to  and  with  said  union,  and  to  and  with 
each  member  thereof,  that  the  following  is  and  shall  be  the  schedule 
of  wages  in  force  and  to  be  paid  to  the  members  of  said  union  while 
in  the  employ  of  the  members  of  said  Typothetffi  signing  this  agree- 
ment, or  any  other  of  the  firms  and  corporations  signing  this  agree- 
ment. 

All  firms  signing  this  agreement  hereby  bind  themselves  to  employ 
none  but  members  of  the  Chicago  Typographical  Union,  No.  16,  in 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  91 

tirely  satisfactory.  .  .  .  Similar  arrangements  have 
been  in  force  in  other  cities  for  several  years,  and  finally 

departments  covered  by  this  scale  of  wages  during  the  term  of  this 
contract,  provided  the  union  is  able,  upon  call,  to  furnish  a  competent 
workman. 

On  and  after  the  1st  day  of  July,  A.  D.  1902,  the  following  shall  be 
the  scale  of  wages  :  — 

Hand  compositors  and  proof  readers,  week  of  fifty-four  hours $19.50 

Hand  compositors  and  proof  readers,  night  work,  week  of  forty-eight  hours     20.70 

Mergenthaler  operators,  week  of  forty-eight  hours 24.00 

Mergenthaler  operators,  night  work,  week  of  forty-eight  hours 2G.40 

Lanston  operators  and  casters,  week  of  fifty-four  hours 21.00 

Lanston  operators  and  casters,  night  work,  week  of  forty-eight  hours 22.00 

Operators  and  justifiers  on  the   Empire,  Thome,  Simplex,  and  similar  ma- 
chines, week  of  fifty-four  hours 20.50 

Operators  and  justifiers  on  the  Empire,  Thome,  Simplex,  and  similar  ma- 
chines, night  work,  week  of  forty-eight  hours 21.50 

Piece  composition,  hand,  per  thousand 42 

Mergenthaler,  sizes  not  exceeding  brevier,  day  work,  per  thousand .12 

Mergenthaler,  sizes  not  exceeding  brevier,  night  work,  per  thousand .14 

Mergenthaler,  larger  than  brevier,  day  work,  per  thousand .15 

Mergenthaler,  larger  than  brevier,  night  work,  per  tliousand 17 

For    composition  during  noon  intermission  and  after  day's  work  is  com- 
pleted (the  day  to  close  not  later  than  6  o'clock  p.  m.),  until  10  o'clock 

p.  M.,  per  hour .55 

From  10  o'clock  p.  m.  to  7  o'clock  a.  m. ,   per  hour 65 

After  completion  of  week's  work  until  7  o'clock  Sunday  morning,  per  hour        .65 

Work  done  on  Sundays  and  recognized  holidays,  per  hour 72 

AU  overtime  on  machines  to  be  paid  at  the  rate  of  one  and  one  half  times  the 
regular  scale. 

All  work  performed  on  Sundays  and  recognized  holidays  to  be  paid  at  the  rate  of 
twice  the  regular  scale. 

All  other  special  prices  for  overtime  and  special  scales  for  extra- 
price  bookwork  to  be  the  same  as  in  the  pamphlets  entitled  "  Job 
and  Book  Scale  of  Prices,"  in  effect  November  21,  1899,  and  "  Aux- 
iliary and  Job  Scale  of 'Prices  for  Linotype  Machines,"  in  effect  Sep- 
tember 19,  1898,  published  by  the  Chicago  Typographical  Union,  No. 
16,  and  marked  Exhibits  A  and  B,  respectively,  which  are  hereby 
made  a  part  of  this  contract,  except  those  parts  thereof  that  conflict 
with  the  provisions  of  this  agreement. 

The  employers  agree  to  continue  to  operate  under  the  present  law 
of  the  Typographical  Union  in  regard  to  apprentices  until  sxich  time 
as  the  entire  question  of  apprentices  shall  be  arbitrated  in  accordance 
with  the  provisions  of  arbitration  in  this  agreement. 

Should  any  difference  arise  between  any  member  or  members  of 
said  Typothetaj  and  any  member  or  members  of  said  union,  either  in 


92  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

a  contract  was  made  last  spring  [1901]  between  the 
American  Newspaper  Publishers  Association  on  the 

reg-ard  to  shop  practice  or  in  regard  to  the  interpretation  of  this-  scale, 
or  any  special  scale  that  may  arise  during  the  life  of  this  contract, 
then  such  difference  shall  -without  delay  be  brought  to  the  attention 
of  the  officers  of  the  parties  hereto,  to  be  submitted  to  arbitration  in 
the  manner  hereinafter  set  forth.  Pending  the  settlement  of  any  differ- 
ences as  aforesaid,  this  agreement  shall  in  every  respect  continue  in 
force  and  the  members  of  said  union  shall  continue  in  their  employ- 
ment. Should  differences  or  disputes  arise  in  reference  to  the  terms 
of  such  settlement,  or  as  to  whether  the  same  have  been  complied 
with,  such  differences  or  disputes  shall  be  left  to  the  arbitrators  who 
arrived  at  such  settlement,  and  their  decision  shall  be  final  and  bind- 
ing upon  all  parties. 

No  strike  shall  be  engaged  in  by  said  union  or  any  members  thereof, 
except  a  strike  in  sympathy  with  the  Pressmen's  Union,  No.  3,  or  the 
Franklin  Union,  No.  4,  or  the  Bookbinders  Union,  and  then  only  after 
said  Typothetse,  or  the  member  or  members  thereof  against  whom  said 
proposed  strike  is  directed,  shall  have  first  been  given  thirty  days' 
written  notice  by  the  officers  of  said  union  of  the  intention  to  engage 
in  such  strike.  If,  however,  the  Typothetae  or  employers  signing  this 
agreement  shall  make  a  similar  contract  with  the  Pressmen's  Union, 
No.  3,  Franklin  Union,  No.  4,  and  Bookbinders  Union,  in  which  these 
unions  agree  not  to  engage  in  any  sympathetic  strike,  the  Typograph- 
ical Union,  No.  16,  will  make  the  same  agreement.  [The  contract  men- 
tioned in  this  sentence,  I  am  informed  by  the  secretary  of  the  Typo- 
thetse, has  not  been  made,  because  the  national  agreement  between  the 
United  Typothetse  of  America  and  the  International  Printing  Press- 
men's and  Assistants  Union  debars  subordinate  unions  of  pressmen 
from  engaging  in  sympathetic  strikes  of  any  character.  This  renders 
a  contract  with  the  Pressmen's  Union,  No.  o,  needless,  and  the  remain- 
der of  the  proposal  has  naturally  lapsed  for  this  reason.] 

It  is  understood  that  this  agreement  shall  be  amended  so  as  to  con- 
form in  the  matter  of  sympathetic  strikes  to  future  agreements  that 
may  be  made  between  kindred  organizations  mentioned  above  and  the 
Chicago  Typothetse. 

Any  employer  signing  this  agreement  having  altercations  with  the 
Mailers  Union,  Photo-engravers  Union,  Stereotypers  Union,  News- 
writers  Union,  or  the  Type  Founders  Union,  also  agrees  to  refer 
such  altercations  to  arbitration  in  the  same  manner  as  if  the  altercation 
■was  with  the  members  of  the  Typographical  Union,  No.  16. 

This  agreement  and  scale  of  wages  to  remain  in  force  untU  July  1, 
1905. 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  93 

one  hand,  and  the  International  Ty|3ographical  Union 
and  the  International  Printing  Pressmen's  Union  on 
the  other.i  The  contract  was  ratified  by  a  substan- 
tially unanimous  vote  of  the  Newspaper  Publishers 
Association.  I  think  the  general  feeling  is  that  these 
arrangements  afford  the  best  method  available  under 
existing  conditions  of  regulating  relations  between 
newspaper  publishers  and  the  employees  in  their  me- 
chanical departments." 

The  most  striking  instance  of  collective  bargaining 
on  a  large  scale,  in  this  country,  is  the  joint  agreement 
between  the  United  Mine  Workers,  the  miners,  and 
the  Bituminous  Coal  Operators,  of  Western  Pennsyl- 
vania, Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois.  The  operators  are 
not  organized  into  one  association,  but  sign  the  agree- 
ments by  two  representatives  from  each  State  or  dis- 
trict ;  the  miners'  assent  is  signified  in  the  same  way, 
and  the  United  Mine  Workers  sign  by  their  president 
and  secretary.  This  method  has  been  in  force  in  the 
coal  industry  since  December  27,  1897.  The  annual 
joint  conference  between  the  coal  miners  and  the  oper- 
ators is  not  so  formal  a  meeting,  perhaps,  as  those  in 
the  English  coal  and  iron  industries,^  where  the  system 
of  "  concihation  boards  "  has  been  carried  to  its  high- 
est perfection,  but  it  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 
meetings  of  workingmen  and  employers  to  be  witnessed 

This  agreement  is  understood  aa  not  to  act  as  a  bar  to  Chicago  Ty- 
pographical Union,  No.  10,  participating  in  a  movement  for  shorter 
work-day,  providing  such  movement  is  agreed  to  by  the  United  Ty- 
pothetEB  of  America  and  the  International  Typographical  Union. 

1  A  similar  contract  with  the  Pressmen's  Union  will  be  found  in 
chapter  xi.,  as  it  deals  mainly  with  conciliation  and  arbitration. 

^  Annual  meetings  are  to  be  recommended  in  all  industries,  and  the 
least  formality  consistent  with  the  dispatch  of  business  is  the  best 
policy. 


94  COLLECTIVE   BARGAINING 

in  this  country.  The  two  parties  generally  meet  in 
Indianapolis  in  January,  immediately  after  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  United  Mine  Workers,  each  conference 
making  its  own  rules  and  issuing  a  call  for  the  suc- 
ceeding conference.  These  rules  have  been  substan- 
tially unchanged  thus  far,  having  been  copied  from 
the  conferences  of  the  individual  States.  The  miners 
send  a  large  number  of  delegates  to  the  convention 
(in  1901  there  were  499 ;  in  1903,  419)  ;  the  operators 
are  represented  by  a  smaller,  but  also  considerable 
number  (in  1901  there  were  182).  ^  The  main  work 
of  the  convention  could  not  well  be  done  on  the  floor, 
with  so  many  members  ;  it  therefore  falls  into  the 
hands  of  a  Scale  Committee  of  thirty-two  members, 
each  side  having  four  votes  from  each  State  in  this 
committee.  On  all  committees  the  miners  and  the 
operators  have  an  equal  number  of  votes,  so  that  the 
difference  of  nimibers  on  the  floor  is  not  impor- 
tant. The  members  of  a  committee  are  chosen  by  the 
side  which  they  are  to  represent. 

The  convention  sits  in  the  morning  from  9  A.  M.  to 
12  M.,  and  in  the  afternoon  from  2  p.  m.  to  5  p.  m., 
evening  sessions  being  held,  if  necessary.  The  mmers' 
representatives  sit  on  the  right  side  of  the  hall,  and 
the  operators'  representatives  on  the  left  side,  facing 
the  stage.  No  motion  is  to  be  declared  carried  unless 
there  is  a  majority  of  the  miners  and  the  operators  of 
each  State  in  favor  of  it.  Each  State  is  allowed  four 
votes  on  behalf  of  the  operators  and  four  on  behalf  of 

^  In  all  collective  bargaining  it  is  usually  desirable  to  have  a  large 
representative  body  rather  than  a  small  one.  The  result  will  be  more 
readily  accepted  by  the  whole  trade,  and  the  conference  will  have 
more  of  an  educating  effect. 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  95 

the  miners.^  In  no  event  shall  the  rule  requiring  a 
unanimous  vote  on  all  "  main  and  principal  "  questions 
be  suspended.  "  Main  and  principal  questions  "  in- 
clude all  questions  affecting  the  proposed  scale  and  the 
collective  agreement.  The  sessions  of  the  convention 
are,  as  a  rule,  open  to  the  public.  (The  use  of  tobacco 
in  the  hall  is  prohibited  during  the  convention,  accord- 
ing to  the  eighth  rule.) 

The  task  of  forming  a  new  agreement  for  the  com- 
ing year  is  referred  to  the  Joint  Scale  Committee,  who 
in  turn  usually  refer  the  question  of  the  rate  of  wages 
to  a  sub-committee  of  sixteen  members.  This  commit- 
tee reports  to  the  convention  from  time  to  time,  as  it 
makes  progress,  and  unsettled  questions  are  discussed 
in  the  convention,  and  then  sent  back  to  the  commit- 
tee. But  when  the  Joint  Scale  Committee  has  finally 
reported,  its  report  is  usually  adopted  unanimously, 
without  change.  This  committee  holds  its  meetings 
in  a  small  room  or  hall,  the  members  sitting  around  a 
common  table,  and  a  great  deal  of  informality  marks 
the  discussions. 

Theoretically  it  would  be  supposed  that  the  require- 
ment of  a  vuianimous  vote  in  the  committee  and  in  the 


^  The  commissioners  representing  the  operators'  associations  of  the 
various  States,  the  officials  of  these  associations,  and  the  officials  of  the 
miners'  organizations  are  usually  admitted  to  "  a  seat  and  a  voice  "  in 
the  convention,  and  in  the  meetings  of  the  Scale  Committee.  "  By 
some  unwritten  law  of  our  conferences,"  said  Mr.  John  Mitchell  at  the 
morning  session  of  January  oO,  1903,  "  a  rule  seems  to  have  been  estab- 
lished that  the  president  of  the  miners'  organization  is  expected  to 
make  a  preliminary  statement  defining  in  substance  the  position  of  the 
miners,  before  we  commence  the  active  work  of  the  convention."  He 
then  read  five  propositions  from  the  miners'  side,  based  upon  the  fact 
that  "  we  feel  confident  that  you  will  be  willing  to  grant  us  increased 
wages  and  improved  conditions  of  employment  this  year." 


96  COLLECTIVE   BARGAINING 

conveution  would  render  it  impossible  to  come  to  any 
decision  in  either  body.  But  practically  it  is  not  very 
hard  to  arrive  at  this  goal,  and  the  proceedings,  though 
animated  at  times,  are  far  from  resembling  those  of 
the  Russian  Mir  so  graphically  described  by  Stepniak, 
where  a  unanimous  agreement  is  always  reached  in  the 
end.^  The  usual  practice  at  Indianapolis  is  for  both 
sides  to  begin  by  making  extreme  demands,  which  are 
beaten  down  gradually  until  the  two  come  together. 
On  a  large  scale,  it  is  the  same  old  story  of  a  private 
bargain  between  two  persons  ;  at  first  "  '  It  is  naught, 
it  is  naught,'  saitli  the  buyer."  The  "  higgling  of  the 
market,"  which  the  Book  of  Proverbs  so  well  charac- 
terizes, finally  brings  the  parties  together.  At  the 
outset,  in  the  Joint  Scale  Committee,  all  the  operators 
begin  by  voting  in  favor  of  their  own  proposition,  and 
aU  the  miners  by  voting  in  favor  of  their  own.  "  Only 
after  a  long  discussion  is  a  compromise  arrived  at. 
Each  point  is  threshed  out  carefuUy.  One  side  pre- 
sents a  proposition  in  return  for  one  from  the  other 
side.  The  speeches  in  some  cases  are  acrimonious,  but 
probably  each  side  from  the  beginning  is  resolved  to 
make  concessions,  if  necessary,  rather  than  break  up 
without  an  agreement."  Thus  we  see  how  easy  it  is, 
comparatively,  to  settle  labor  questions  when  the  two 
parties  come  into  close  relations,  with  an  equality  of 
numbers  and  of  voting  power.  Thej^  begin  the  con- 
ference with  expressions  of  good  will  and  of  great 
satisfaction  over  the  record  of  the  past  conferences. 
Mr.  Mitchell,  for  example,  said  in  1902  :  "  I  desire  to 
express  what  I  believe  to   be  the  sentiment  of  both 

^   See  Russia  under  the  Tsars,  vol.  i.  p.  2,  quoted  by  Mr.  John  Rae 
in  his  Contemporary  Socialism,  p.  252. 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  97 

miners  and  operators,  and  that  is,  that  in  our  joint 
agreements  our  relationship  has  more  than  justified  the 
fondest  hopes  of  those  who  started  this  movement.  .  .  . 
It  is  a  pleasant  tribute  to  our  civilization  that  men 
whose  interests  appear  to  be  irreconcilable  can  meet  in 
conference  and  reach  an  adjustment  that  at  least  gives 
a  fair  measure  of  satisfaction  to  both  parties  to  that 
adjustment,"  Mr.  Justi  soon  after,  in  accepting  a 
correction  from  Mr.  Mitchell,  took  occasion  to  say  that 
"  There  is  no  man,  in  this  convention  or  anywhere  else, 
that  I  would  be  more  unwilling  to  offend  or  Avrong 
or  place  in  a  wrong  light  before  the  public  than  Mr. 
Mitchell."  However  spirited  the  discussions  that  follow, 
in  the  convention  or  in  the  committee,  the  end  is  a 
unanimous  acceptance  of  the  report  of  the  committee, 
and  a  vote  of  thanks  to  the  officers  of  the  convention. 
Such  are  the  results  when  a  rational  method  has  been 
thus  arranged  beforehand  of  adjusting  the  demands  of 
both  parties. 

Here  follows  the  Interstate  Agreement  for  the  year 
ending  April  1,  1901,  renewed  in  1901  and  1902. 

It  is  hereby  agreed,  Sec.  1.  (a)  That  an  advance  of 
fourteen  (14)  cents  per  ton  of  two  thousand  (2,000)  pounds 
for  pick  mined,  screened  coal,  shall  take  effect  in  Western 
Pennsylvania  thin  vein,  the  Hocking,  the  basing  district  of 
Ohio,  and  the  block  coal  district  of  Indiana. 

(b)  That  the  Danville  district,  the  basing  point  of  Illinois, 
shall  be  continued  on  an  absolute  run-of-mine  basis,  and 
that  an  advance  of  nine  cents  (9  cents)  per  ton  over  present 
prices  be  paid  in  the  district  named. 

(c)  That  the  bituminous  coal  district  of  Indiana  shall  pay 
forty-nine  cents  (49  cents)  per  ton,  for  all  mine-run  coal 
loaded  and  shipped  as  such.  All  other  coal  mined  in  that 
district  shall  be  passed  over  a  regulation  screen,  and  be  paid 


98  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

for  at  the  rate  of  eighty  cents  (80  cents)  per  ton  of  two 
thousand  (2,000)  pounds  for  screened  lump. 

Sec.  2.  That  the  screen  herehy  adopted  for  the  State  of 
Ohio,  western  Pennsylvania,  and  the  bituminous  district 
of  Indiana,  shall  be  uniform  in  size,  six  (6)  feet  wide  by 
twelve  (12)  feet  long,  built  of  flat  or  Akron-shaped  bar,  of 
not  less  than  five  eighths  (f )  of  an  inch  surface,  with  one 
and  one  fourth  (Ij)  inches  between  bars,  free  from  obstruc- 
tions, and  that  such  screens  shall  rest  upon  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  bearings  to  hold  the  bars  in  proper  position. 

Sec.  3.  That  the  block  coal  district  of  Indiana  may  con- 
tinue the  use  of  the  diamond  bar  screen,  the  screen  to  be 
seventy-two  (72)  feet  superficial  area,  of  uniform  size,  one 
and  one  quarter  inches  between  the  bars,  free  from  obstruc- 
tion, and  that  such  screens  shall  rest  upon  a  sufficient  number 
of  bearings  to  hold  the  bars  in  proper  position. 

Sec.  4.  That  the  differential  between  the  thick  and  thin 
vein  pick  mines  of  the  Pittsburg  district  be  referred  to  that 
district  for  settlement. 

Sec.  5.  (a)  That  the  price  of  machine  mining  in  the 
bituminous  district  of  Indiana  shall  be  eighteen  (18)  cents 
per  ton  less  than  the  pick  mining  rate  for  screened  lump 
coal,  when  punching  machines  are  used ;  and  twenty-one 
and  one  half  (21^)  cents  per  ton  less  than  pick  mining  rate 
when  chain  machines  are  used. 

When  coal  is  paid  for  on  run-of-mine  basis,  the  price 
shall  be  ten  (10)  cents  per  ton  less  than  the  pick  mining 
rate  when  punching  machines  are  used,  and  twelve  and  one 
half  (12 J)  cents  per  ton  less  than  pick  mining  rates  when 
chain  machines  are  used. 

(b)  That  the  machine  mining  rate  in  the  DanviUe  dis- 
trict, the  basing  point  of  Illinois,  on  both  punching  and 
chain  machines,  be  thirty-nine  (39)  cents  per  ton. 

Sec.  6.  That  the  machine  mining  rate  in  the  thin  vein 
of  the  Pittsburg  district,  and  the  Hocking,  the  basing  district 
of  Ohio,  for  shooting,  cutting,  and  loading,  shall  be  advanced 
nine  (9)  cents  per  ton.    And  that  the  block  coal  district  of 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  99 

Indiana  shall  be  advanced  eleven  and  one  half  (11 5)  cents 
per  ton. 

Sec.  7.  That  the  mining  rates  in  the  central  district  of 
Pennsylvania  be  referred  to  that  district  for  adjustment. 

Sec.  8.  That  the  advance  on  inside  day  labor  be  twenty 
per  cent.  (20  per  cent.),  based  on  the  present  Hocking  Val- 
ley scale ;  with  the  exception  of  trappers,  whose  compensa- 
tion shall  be  one  dollar  ($1.00)  per  day. 

Sec.  9.  That  all  narrow,  dead-woi'k  and  room  turning 
shall  be  paid  a  proportionate  advance  with  the  pick  mining 
rate. 

Sec.  10.  That  internal  differences  in  any  of  the  States  or 
districts,  both  as  to  prices  or  conditions,  shall  be  referred 
to  the  States  or  districts  affected  for  adjustment. 

Sec.  11.  The  above  scale  is  based  upon  an  eight  (8)  hour 
work  day. 

The  foregoing  scale  having  been  unanimously  adopted  by 
the  Interstate  Convention  of  Miners  and  Operators,  at  In- 
dianapolis, Indiana,  on  February  2,  1900,  in  witness  hereof 
we  hereto  attach  our  signatures. 

The  agreement  for  the  year  ending  March  31,  1904, 
was  as  follows  :  — 

That  the  Interstate  Agreement  of  the  present  year  be 
continued  with  the  same  conditions  for  the  scale  year  begin- 
ning April  1,  1903,  and  ending  March  31,  1904,  with  the 
exception  of  the  mining  prices  and  inside  day  wages. 

That  the  j^rice  for  mining  be  increased  ten  (10)  cents 
per  ton  on  inch  and  a  quarter  screened  lump  coal,  pick  min- 
ing, in  Western  Pennsylvania  thin  vein,  the  Hocking,  the 
basing  district  of  Ohio,  and  both  block  and  bituminous  dis- 
tricts of  Indiana ;  six  (6)  cents  per  ton  on  mine-run  coal, 
pick  mining,  in  the  bituminous  district  of  Indiana,  and  at 
Danville,  the  basing  point  of  Illinois. 

That  the  price  for  machine  mining  be  inci-eased  eight  (8) 
cents  per  ton  on  screened  lump  coal  in  Western  Pennsylva- 
nia thin  vein,  and  the  Hocking,  the  basing  district  of  Ohio ; 


100  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

ten  (10)  cents  per  ton  on  screened  lump  coal  in  the  block 
and  bituminous  districts  of  Indiana,  and  six  (6)  cents  per 
ton  on  mine-run  coal  in  the  bituminous  district  of  Indiana 
and  at  Danville,  the  basing  point  of  Illinois. 

That  the  Inside  Day  Wage  Scale  shall  be  as  follows,  with 
the  conditions  of  the  Columbus  Day  Wage  Scale  agreement 
of  1898,  to  wit :  — 

Tracklayers $2.56 

Tracklayers'  helpers 2.36 

Trapjiers 1.13 

Bottom  Cagers 2.56 

Drivers 2.56 

Trip  Riders 2.56 

Water  Haulers  and  Machine  Haulers 2.56 

Timbermen,  whei'e  such  are  employed 2.56 

Pipemen  for  Compressed  Air  Plants 2.50 

Company  men  in  Long  Wall  Mines  of  Third  Vein 

District,  Northern  Illinois 2.36 

All  other  Inside  Day  Labor 2.36 

That  yardage  and  dead-work  be  advanced  twelve  and 
one  half  (12 1^)  per  cent. 

Two  paragTaphs  from  the  Chicago  agreement  of 
1898  are  of  interest.  They  have  not  been  expressly 
reaffirmed  in  later  agreements,  but  I  am  informed  by 
President  John  Mitchell,  of  the  United  Mine  Workers, 
that  they  are  considered  to  be  still  in  effect :  — 

5.  That  on  and  after  April  1,  1898,  the  eight-hour  work 
day  with  eight  hours'  pay,  consisting  of  six  days  per  week, 
shall  be  in  effect  in  all  of  the  districts  represented,  and  that 
uniform  wages  for  day  labor  shall  be  paid  the  different 
classes  of  labor  in  the  fields  named,  and  that  internal  dif- 
ferences in  any  of  the  States  or  districts,  both  as  to  prices 
and  conditions,  shall  be  referred  to  the  States  or  districts 
affected  for  adjustment. 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  101 

8.  That  the  United  Mine  Workers'  organization,  a  party 
to  this  contract,  do  hereby  further  agree  to  afford  all  pos- 
sible protection  to  the  trade  and  to  the  other  parties  hereto 
against  any  unfair  competition  resulting  from  a  failure  to 
maintain  scale  rates. 

The  bituminous  coal  workers  have  been  able  to  ex- 
tend the  system  of  annual  joint  agreements,  by  State 
or  district  conferences,  beyond  the  four  States  already 
named,  to  Alabama,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Missouri, 
Kansas,  Iowa,  Michigan,  and  Geitttral  ■  Pennsylvania. 
The  inunediate  ambition  of  the  United  Mine  Workers 
and  the  operators  is  to  bring  in  Wcct*  Virginir*,'  <V^li5ch 
is  a  dangerous  competitor  with  its  cheap  negTO  labor. 
On  the  question  of  including  other  States,  like  Michi- 
gan and  Iowa,  within  the  interstate  agreement  the 
miners  and  the  operators  are  not  agreed.  In  Pennsyl- 
vania, Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois  annual  conferences 
are  held,  composed  of  rejiresentatives  of  the  coal 
miners  and  the  operators,  which  arrange  for  the  appli- 
cation of  the  general  rules  laid  down  by  the  Indian- 
apolis conference  to  the  particular  needs  and  demands 
of  the  State.  The  system  adopted  in  Illinois  is  the 
most  elaborate  of  these  State  agreements,  binding, 
as  it  does,  some  40,000  wage-earners.  The  Illinois  coal 
operators  are  thoroughly  organized,  and  actively  en- 
force the  carrying  out  of  the  joint  agreements  by  each 
operator  in  the  State.  This  is  the  agi-eement  in  effect 
for  the  year  beginning  April  1,  1903  :  — 

Whereas,  A  contract  between  tlie  operators  of  the  com- 
petitive coal  fields  of  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illi- 
nois, and  the  United  Mine  Workers  of  America,  has  been 
entered  into  at  the  city  of  Indianapohs,  Indiana,  Febuary  7, 
1903,  fixing  a  scale  of  mining  prices,  day  wages,  and  con- 


102  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

ditions  for  certain  base  points  therein  set  forth,  to  con- 
tinue in  force  and  effect  for  one  year  from  April  1,  1903 ; 
and 

Whereas,  This  contract  fixes  the  pick-mining  price  of 
bituminous  mine-run  coal  at  Danville,  at  fifty-five  cents  per 
ton  of  two  thousand  pounds  ;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  prices  for  pick-mine  coal  throughout 
the  State  for  one  year,  beginning  April  1,  1903,  shall  be  as 
follows :  — 

FIRST  DISTRICT.i 

Streatpf,  Ca*di|lj  Clarke  City,  and  associated  mines, 

including  Tolucca  thick  vein $.64 

(Note  :  The  matter  of  the  clay  parting  at  Streator 
to  be  referred  to  sub-district  convention  for  ad- 
justment.) 
Third  vein  and  associated  mines,  including  third  vein 
at  Streator,  including  twenty-four  inches  of  brush- 
ing    82 

Wilmington  and  associated  mines,  including  Cardiff 
long  wall   and    Bloomington   thin  vein,  including 

brushing 87 

Bloomington  thick  vein .77 

Poiitiac,  including  twenty-four  inches  of  brushing  .     .      .87 

Pontiac  top  vein 64 

Marseilles  and  Seneca  (referred  to  a  joint  commit- 
tee of  two  miners  and  two  operators  for  investi- 
gation and  adjustment  of  the  mining  prices  and 
conditions,  and  their  agreement  shall  become  a  part 
of  this  contract.  Said  committee  to  make  its  inves- 
tigation and  report  prior  to  April  1,  1903)  ,  .  . 
Morris  long  wall,  Wilmington  conditions      ....    1.06 

Morris  room  and  pillar 1.21 

Clarke  City  lower  seam,  brushing  in  coal     .... 

^  The  prices  for  the  remaining  eight  districts  of  the  State  are  omitted 
here. 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  103 

First.  The  Indianapolis  Convention  having  adopted  a 
mining  and  underground  day  labor  scale,  in  effect  April 
1,  1903,  no  changes  or  conditions  shall  be  imposed  in  the 
Illinois  scale  for  the  coming  year  that  increase  the  cost  of 
production  of  coal  in  any  district  in  the  State,  except  as 
may  be  provided. 

Second.  No  scale  of  wages  shall  be  made  by  the  United 
Mine  Workers  for  mine  manager,  mine  manager's  assistant, 
top  foreman,  company  weighman,  boss  drivers,  night  boss, 
head  machinist,  head  boiler  maker,  head  carpenter,  night 
watchman,  hoisting  engineers.  It  being  understood  that 
"  assistant  "  shall  apply  to  such  as  are  authorized  to  act  in 
that  capacity  only.  The  authority  to  hire  and  discharge 
shall  be  vested  in  the  mine  manager,  top  foreman,  and  boss 
driver.  It  is  further  understood  and  agreed  that  the  night 
watchman  shall  be  exempt  when  employed  in  that  capacity 
only. 

Third.  Any  operator  paying  the  scale  rate  of  mining  and 
day  labor  under  this  agreement  shall  at  all  times  be  at 
liberty  to  load  any  railroad  cars  whatever,  regardless  of 
their  ownership,  with  coal,  and  sell  and  deliver  such  coal 
in  any  market  and  to  any  person,  firm,  or  corporation  that 
he  may  desire. 

Fourth.  The  scale  of  prices  for  mining,  per  ton  of  2,000 
pounds,  run-of-mine  coal,  herein  provided  for,  is  understood 
in  every  case  to  be  for  coal  practically  free  from  slate,  bone, 
and  other  impurities,  loaded  in  cars  at  the  face,  weighed 
before  screening ;  and  that  the  practice  of  pushing  coal  by 
the  miners  shall  be  prohibited. 

Fifth,  (a)  Whether  the  coal  is  shot  after  being  undercut 
or  sheared  by  pick  or  machine,  or  shot  without  under- 
cutting or  shearing,  the  miners  nmst  drill  and  blast  the 
coal  in  accordance  with  the  State  mining  law  of  Illinois, 
in  order  to  protect  the  roof  and  timbers  and  in  the  interest 
of  general  safety.  Any  miner  who  persistently  violates  the 
letter  or  spirit  of  this  clause  shall  be  discharged. 

(/>)   The  system  of  paying  for  coal  before  screening  was 


104  COLLECTIVE  BARGAiriNG 

intended  to  obviate  the  many  contentions  incident  tO  the  use 
of  screens,  and  was  not  intended  to  encourage  unworkman- 
like methods  of  mining  and  blasting  coal,  or  to  decrease  the 
proportion  of  screened  lump,  and  the  operators  are  hereby 
gviaranteed  the  hearty  support  and  cooperation  of  the  United 
Mine  Workers  of  America  in  disciplining  any  miner  who 
from  ignorance  or  carelessness,  or  other  cause,  fails  to  pro- 
perly mine,  shoot,  and  load  his  coal. 

Sixth.  In  case  slate,  bone,  clay,  sulphur,  or  other  impu- 
rities are  sent  up  with  the  coal  by  the  miner,  it  shall  be 
the  duty  of  whomever  the  company  shall  designate  as  in- 
spector to  report  the  same,  with  the  estimated  weight  thereof, 
and  the  miner,  or  miners,  so  offending  shall  have  such  weight 
deducted  from  the  established  weight  of  the  car,  and  for 
the  first  offense  in  any  given  month  shall  be  fined  fifty 
cents  ;  for  the  second  offense  in  the  same  month  he  or  they 
shall,  at  the  option  of  the  operator,  be  fined  two  dollars  or 
suspended  for  two  working  days  ;  and  for  the  tliird,  or  any 
subsequent  offense,  in  the  same  month,  or  in  malicious  or 
aggravated  cases,  for  the  first,  or  any  subsequent  offense, 
the  operator  may  indefinitely  suspend  or  discharge. 

The  company  weighman  shall  post  in  a  conspicuous  place 
at  the  pit-head  the  names  of  all  miners  dealt  with  hereunder. 

The  inspector  designated  by  the  operator  shall  be  a  mem- 
ber of  the  U.  M.  W.  of  A.,  but  in  the  discharge  of  the  du- 
ties herein  specified  shall  not  be  subject  to  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  local  union  or  president  or  pit  committee,  and  against 
any  miner  or  committeeman  seeking  in  any  way  to  embar- 
rass the  inspector  in  or  because  of  the  discharge  of  such 
duties  the  provisions  of  the  miners'  State  constitution  shall 
be  invoked,  and  in  addition  he  shall,  at  the  option  of  the 
operator,  be  suspended  for  two  working  days. 

In  case  it  shall  be  alleged,  by  either  the  local  representa- 
tives of  the  miners  or  by  the  operator,  that  the  inspector  is 
not  properly  performing  his  duties  hereunder,  it  shall  be  so 
reported  to  the  miners'  sub-district  president,  who  shall, 
within  forty-eight  hours  after  the   receipt   of   notification, 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  105 

take  it  up  with  the  superintendent  of  the  company  for  ad- 
judication ;  and,  if  it  shall  be  found  that  the  inspector 
is  not  faithfully  performing  such  duties,  he  shall  be  dis- 
charged or  transferred  to  other  duties,  as  the  operator  may 
elect. 

The  proceeds  of  all  fines  hereunder  shaU  be  paid  to  the 
Miners  Sub-District  Secretary-Treasurer,  and  under  no  cir- 
cumstances shaU  any  such  lines  be  remitted  or  refunded. 

Seventh.  The  miners  of  the  State  of  Ilhnois  are  to  be 
paid  twice  a  month,  the  dates  of  pay  to  be  determined  locally, 
but  in  no  event  shall  more  than  one  half  month's  pay  be  re- 
tained by  the  operator.  When  any  number  of  men  at  any 
mine  so  demand,  statements  will  be  issued  to  all  employees 
not  less  than  twenty-four  hours  prior  to  pay  day.  The  miners 
and  operators  shall  decide  locally  as  to  the  form  and  manner 
in  which  statements  shall  be  issued.  No  commission  will  be 
charged  for  money  advanced  between  pay  days,  but  any 
advances  between  pay  days  shall  be  at  the  option  of  the 
operator. 

Eighth.  The  price  for  powder  per  keg  shall  be  one  dollar 
and  seventy-five  cents ;  the  miners  agree  to  purchase  tlieir 
powder  from  the  operators,  provided  it  is  furnished  of  stand- 
ard grade  and  quality ;  that  to  be  determined  by  the  oper- 
ators and  expert  miners  jointly,  where  there  is  a  differ- 
ence. 

Ninth.  The  price  for  blacksmithing  for  pick  mining  shall 
be  six  tenths  of  a  cent  per  ton  for  room  and  pillai-  work 
and  twelve  and  one  half  cents  per  pay  per  man,  or  twenty- 
five  cents  per  month  for  long  wall  for  pick  and  drill  shai'j> 
ening. 

Tenth.  It  is  understood  that  there  is  no  agreement  as  to 
the  price  of  oil. 

Eleventh.  The  inside  day  wage  scale  authorized  by  the 

Indianapolis  agreement  of  February  7,  1903,^  shall  be  the 

scale  under  this  agreement ;  Provided,  that  the  twelve  and 

one  half  per  cent,  advance  shall  apply  on  all  classes  of  under- 

^  See  page  100. 


106       COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

ground  day  labor  not  specified  above,  whose  rates  have  been 
fixed  locally. 

Twelfth.  The  above  scale  of  mining  prices  is  based  upon 
an  eight-hour  work  day,  and  it  is  definitely  understood  that 
this  shall  mean  eight  hours'  work  at  the  face,  exclusive  of 
noon  time,  six  days  a  week,  or  forty-eight  hours  in  the  week, 
provided  the  operator  desires  the  mine  to  work,  and  no  local 
ruling  shall  in  any  way  affect  this  agreement,  or  impose  con- 
ditions affecting  the  same. 

Any  class  of  day  labor  may  be  paid,  at  the  option  of  the 
operator,  for  the  number  of  hours  and  fractions  thereof  ac- 
tually worked,  at  an  hour  rate  based  on  one  eighth  of  the  scale 
rate  per  day.  Provided,  however,  that  when  the  men  go 
into  the  mine  in  the  morning  they  shall  be  entitled  to  two 
hours'  pay  whether  the  mine  hoists  coal  two  hours  or  not, 
except,  in  the  event  that  they  voluntarily  leave  their  work 
during  this  time  without  the  consent  of  the  operator,  they 
shall  forfeit  such  two  hours'  pay.  Provided,  further,  that 
over-time  by  day  laborers  when  necessary  to  supply  railroad 
chutes  with  coal  by  night  or  Sunday  where  no  regular  men 
therefor  are  exclusively  employed,  or  when  necessary  in 
order  not  to  impede  the  operation  of  the  mine  the  day  fol- 
lowing, and  for  work  which  cannot  be  performed  or  com- 
pleted by  the  regular  shift  during  regular  hours  without 
impeding  the  operation  of  the  mine,  may  be  performed  and 
paid  for  at  the  same  rate  per  hour. 

Thirteenth,  (a)  The  duties  of  the  pit  committee  shall 
be  confined  to  the  adjustment  of  disputes  between  the  pit 
boss  and  any  of  the  members  of  the  United  Mine  Work- 
ers of  America,  working  in  and  around  the  mine,  for  whom 
a  scale  is  made,  arising  out  of  this  agreement  or  any  sub- 
district  agreement  made  in  connection  herewith,  where  the 
pit  boss  and  said  miner,  or  mine  laborers,  have  failed  to 
agree. 

{h)  In  case  of  any  local  trouble  arising  at  any  shaft 
through  such  failure  to  agree  between  the  pit  boss  and 
any   miner   or   mine  laborer,  the  pit    committee  and  the 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  107 

miners'  local  president  and  the  pit  boss  are  empowered  to 
adjust  it ;  and  in  the  case  of  their  disagreement  it  shall 
be  referred  to  the  superintendent  of  the  company  and  the 
president  of  the  miners'  local  executive  board,  where  such 
exists  ;  and  shall  they  fail  to  adjust  it  —  and  in  all  other  cases 
—  it  shall  be  referred  to  the  superintendent  of  the  company 
and  the  miners'  president  of  the  sub-district ;  and,  should 
they  fail  to  adjust  it,  it  shall  be  referred  in  writing  to  the 
officials  of  the  company  concerned  and  the  State  officials  of 
the  U.  M.  W.  of  A.  for  adjustment  ;  and  in  all  such  cases, 
the  miners  and  mine  laborers  and  parties  involved  must 
continue  at  work  pending  an  investigation  and  adjustment, 
until  a  final  decision  is  reached  in  the  manner  above  set 
forth. 

(c)  If  any  day  men  refuse  to  continue  at  work  because 
of  a  grievance  which  has  or  has  not  been  taken  up  for  ad- 
justment in  the  manner  provided  herein,  and  such  action 
shall  seem  likely  to  impede  the  operation  of  the  mine,  the 
pit  committee  shall  immediately  furnish  a  man  or  men  to 
take  such  vacant  place,  or  places,  at  the  scale  rate,  in  order 
that  the  mine  may  continue  at  work ;  and  it  shall  be  the 
duty  of  any  member,  or  members,  of  the  United  Mine 
Workers,  who  may  be  called  upon  by  the  pit  boss,  or  pit 
committee,  to  immediately  take  the  place  or  places  assigned 
to  him  or  them  in  pursuance  hereof. 

{d)  The  pit  committee,  in  the  discharge  of  its  duties, 
shall  under  no  circumstances  go  around  the  mine  for  any 
cause  whatever,  unless  called  upon  by  the  pit  boss  or  by  a 
miner  or  company  man  who  may  have  a  grievance  that  he 
cannot  settle  with  the  boss ;  and,  as  its  duties  are  confined 
to  the  adjustment  of  any  such  grievances,  it  is  understood 
that  its  members  shall  not  draw  any  compensation  except 
while  actively  engaged  in  the  discharge  of  said  duties.  Any 
pit  committee  man  who  shall  attempt  to  execute  any  local 
rule  or  proceeding  in  conflict  with  any  provision  of  this  con- 
tract, or  any  other  made  in  pursuance  hereof,  shall  be  forth- 
with deposed  as  committee  man.    The  foregoing  shall  not  be 


108  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

construed  to  prohibit  the  pit  committee  from  looking  after 
the  matter  of  membership  dues  and  initiations  in  any  proper 
manner. 

(e)  Members  of  the  pit  committee  employed  as  day  men 
shall  not  leave  their  places  of  duty  during  working  hours, 
except  by  permission  of  the  operator,  or  in  cases  involving 
the  stoppage  of  the  mine. 

(/")  The  right  to  hire  and  discharge,  the  management  of 
the  mine,  and  the  direction  of  the  working  force  are  vested 
exclusively  in  the  operator,  and  the  U.  M.  W.  of  A.  shall 
not  abridge  this  right.  It  is  not  the  intention  of  this  provi- 
sion to  encourage  the  discharge  of  employees,  or  the  refusal 
of  employment  to  applicants  because  of  personal  prejudice 
or  activity  in  matters  affecting  the  U.  M.  W.  of  A.  If  any 
employee  shall  be  suspended  or  discharged  by  the  company 
and  it  is  claimed  an  injustice  has  been  done  him,  an  inves- 
tigation to  be  conducted  by  the  parties  and  in  the  manner 
set  forth  in  paragraphs  (a)  and  (b)  of  this  section  shall  be 
taken  up  promptly,  and,  if  it  is  proven  that  an  injustice  has 
been  done,  the  operator  shall  reinstate  said  employee  and 
pay  him  full  compensation  for  the  time  he  has  been  sus- 
pended and  out  of  employment ;  provided,  if  no  decision 
shall  be  rendered  within  five  days  the  case  shall  be  consid- 
ered closed,  in  so  far  as  compensation  is  concerned,  unless 
said  failure  to  arrive  at  a  decision  within  five  days  is  owing 
to  delay  upon  the  part  of  the  operator,  in  which  case  a 
maximum  of  ten  days'  compensation  shall  be  paid. 

Fourteenth.  The  wages  now  being  paid  outside  day  labor 
at  the  various  mines  in  this  State,  plus  an  advance  of  twelve 
and  one  half  per  cent.,  shall  constitute  the  wage  scale  for 
that  class  of  labor  during  the  life  of  this  agreement :  pro- 
vided, that  no  top  man  shall  receive  less  than  two  dollars 
and  two  and  a  half  cents  per  day. 

Fifteenth.  In  the  event  of  an  instantaneous  death  by  ac- 
cident in  the  mine,  the  miners  and  underground  employees 
shall  have  the  privilege  of  discontinuing  work  for  the  re- 
mainder of  that  day ;  but  work,  at  the  option  of  the  opera- 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  109 

tor,  shall  be  resumed  the  clay  following,  and  continue  there- 
after. In  case  the  operator  elects  to  operate  the  mine  on 
the  day  of  the  funeral  of  the  deceased,  as  above,  or  where 
death  has  resulted  from  an  accident  in  the  mine,  individual 
miners  and  underground  employees  may,  at  their  option,  ab- 
sent themselves  from  work  for  the  purpose  of  attending 
such  funeral,  but  not  otherwise.  And  whether  attending 
such  funeral  or  not,  each  member  of  the  U.  M.  W.  of  A. 
employed  at  the  mine  at  which  the  deceased  member  was 
employed  shall  contribute  fifty  cents  and  the  operator 
twenty-five  dollars  for  the  benefit  of  the  family  of  the  de- 
ceased, or  his  legal  representatives,  to  be  collected  through 
the  office  of  the  company.  In  the  event  that  the  mines  are 
thrown  idle  on  account  of  the  miners'  or  other  employees' 
failure  to  report  for  work  in  the  time  intervening  between 
the  time  of  the  accident  and  the  funeral,  or  on  the  day  of 
the  funeral,  then  the  company  shall  not  be  called  ujjon  for  the 
payment  of  the  twenty-five  dollars  above  referred  to. 

Except  in  case  of  fatal  accidents  as  above,  the  mine 
shall  in  no  case  be  thrown  idle  because  of  any  death  or 
funeral ;  but  in  the  case  of  the  death  of  any  employee  of  the 
company  or  member  of  his  family,  any  individual  miner 
may,  at  his  option,  absent  himself  from  work  for  the  pur- 
pose of  attending  such  funeral,  but  not  otherwise. 

Sixteenth,  (a)  The  scale  of  prices  herein  provided  shall 
include,  in  ordinary  conditions,  the  work  required  to  load 
coal  and  properly  timber  the  working  places  in  the  mine, 
and  the  operator  shall  be  required  to  furnish  the  necessary 
props  and  timber  in  rooms  or  working  face.  And  in  long 
wall  mines  it  shall  include  the  proper  mining  of  the  coal  and 
the  brushing  and  care  of  the  working  places  and  roadway 
according  to  the  present  method  and  rules  relating  thereto, 
which  shall  continue  unchanged. 

{b)  If  any  miner  shall  fail  to  properly  timber,  shoot,  and 
care  for  his  working  place,  and  such  failure  bas  entailed  falls 
of  slate,  rock,  and  the  like,  the  miner  whose  fault  has  oc- 
casioned such  damage  shaU  repair  the  same  without  com- 


110  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

pensation,  and  if  such  miner  fails  to  repair  such  damage  he 
may  be  discharged. 

Any  dispute  that  may  arise  as  to  the  responsibility  under 
this  clause  shall  be  adjusted  by  the  pit  committee  and  mine 
foreman,  and  in  case  of  their  failure  to  agree,  shall  be  taken 
up  for  settlement  under  the  thirteenth  section  of  this  agree- 
ment. 

In  cases  where  the  mine  manager  directs  the  placing  of 
cross-bars  to  permanently  secure  the  roadway,  then,  and  in 
such  cases  only,  the  miner  shall  be  paid  at  the  current  price 
for  each  cross-bar  when  properly  set. 

The  above  does  not  contemjilate  any  change  from  the 
ordinary  method  of  timbering  by  the  miner  for  his  own 
safety. 

Seventeenth.  The  operators  will  recognize  the  pit  com- 
mittee in  the  discharge  of  its  duties  as  herein  specified, 
but  not  otherwise,  and  agree  to  check  off  union  dues,  assess- 
ments, and  fines  from  the  miners  and  mine  laborers,  when 
desired,  on  proper  individual  or  collective  continuous  order, 
and  furnish  to  the  miners'  local  representative  a  statement 
showing  separately  the  total  amount  of  dues,  assessments,  and 
fines  collected.  When  such  collections  are  made,  card  days 
shall  be  abolished.  In  case  any  fine  is  imposed  the  propriety 
of  which  is  questioned,  the  amount  of  such  fine  shall  be 
withheld  by  the  operator  until  the  question  has  been  taken 
up  for  adjustment  and  a  decision  has  been  reached. 

Eighteenth.  The  operators  shall  have  the  right  in  cases 
of  emergency  work  or  ordinary  repairs  to  the  plant,  to  em- 
ploy in  connection  therewith  such  men  as  in  their  judgment 
are  best  acquainted  with  and  suited  to  the  work  to  be  per- 
formed, except  where  men  are  permanently  employed  for 
such  work.  Blacksmiths  and  other  skilled  labor  shall  make 
any  necessary  repairs  to  machinery  and  boilers. 

Nineteenth.  The  ei'ection  of  head  frames,  buildings, 
scales,  machinery,  railroad  switches,  etc.,  necessary  for  the 
completion  of  a  plant  to  hoist  coal,  all  being  in  the  nature 
of  construction  work,  are  to  be  excluded  from  the  jurisdiction 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  111 

of  the  United  Mine  Workers  of  America.  Extensive  re- 
pairs to  or  rebuilding  the  same  class  of  work  shall  also  be 
included  in  the  same  exception.  The  employees  thereon  to 
be  excluded  as  above,  when  employed  on  such  work  only. 

Twentieth.  When  any  employee  absents  himself  from  his 
work  for  a  period  of  two  days,  unless  through  sickness  or 
by  first  having  notified  the  mine  manager  and  obtained  his 
consent,  he  may  be  discharged. 

Twenty-first,  {a)  Except  at  the  basing  point,  Danville, 
the  differential  for  machine  mining  throughout  the  State  of 
Illinois  shall  be  seven  cents  per  ton  less  than  the  pick  min- 
ing rate.  It  being  understood  and  agreed  that  the  machine 
mining  rate  shall  include  the  snubbing  of  coal  either  by 
powder  or  wedge,  and  sledge,  as  conditions  may  warrant, 
where  chain  machine  is  used ;  but  it  is  understood  that  this 
condition  shall  not  apply  where  two  men  have  and  work  in 
one  place  only  in  the  same  shift,  except  at  the  option  of  the 
miner  ;  and  it  shall  also  be  optional  with  the  miner  which 
system  of  snubbing  shall  be  followed.  The  division  of  the 
machine  mining  rate  shall  be  fixed  in  joint  sub-district 
meeting. 

(b)  The  established  rates  on  shearing  machines  and  air 
or  electric  drills  as  now  existing  shall  remain  unchanged 
during  the  ensuing  year. 

Twenty-second.  Any  underground  employee  not  on  hand 
so  as  to  go  down  to  his  work  before  the  hour  for  commen- 
cing work,  shall  not  be  entitled  to  go  below,  except  at  the 
convenience  of  the  company.  When  an  employee  is  sick  or 
injured,  he  shall  be  given  a  cage  at  once.  When  a  cage 
load  of  men  comes  to  the  bottom  of  the  shaft,  why  have 
been  prevented  from  working  by  reason  of  falls  or  other 
things  over  which  they  have  no  control,  they  shall  be  given 
a  cage  at  once.  For  the  accommodation  of  individual  em- 
ployees, less  than  a  cage  load,  who  have  been  prevented  from 
working  as  above,  a  cage  shall  be  run  mid-forenoon,  noon, 
and  mid-afternoon  of  each  working  day  ;  provided,  how- 
ever, that  the  foregoing  shall  not  be  permitted  to  enable 


112  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

men  to  leave  their  work  for  other  than  the  reasons  stated 
above. 

Twenty-third.  This  contract  is  in  no  case  to  be  set  aside 
because  of  any  rules  of  the  U.  M.  W.  of  A.  now  in  force  or 
which  may  hereafter  be  adopted ;  nor  is  this  contract  to  be 
set  aside  by  reason  of  any  provision  in  their  national,  State, 
or  local  constitutions. 

Twenty-fourth.  All  classes  of  day  labor  are  to  work  full 
eight  hours,  and  the  going  to  and  coming  from  the  respec- 
tive working  places  is  to  be  done  on  the  day  hand's  own 
time.  All  company  men  shall  perform  whatever  day  labor 
the  foreman  may  direct.  An  eight-hour  day  means  eight 
hours'  work  in  the  mines  at  the  usual  working  places,  ex- 
clusive of  noon  time,  for  all  classes  of  inside  day  labor.  This 
shall  be  exclusive  of  the  time  required  in  reaching  such 
working  places  in  the  morning  and  departing  from  same  at 
night. 

Drivers  shall  take  their  mules  to  and  from  the  stables,  and 
the  time  required  in  so  doing  shall  not  include  any  part  of 
the  day's  labor  ;  their  time  beginning  when  they  reach  the 
change  at  which  they  receive  empty  cars  —  tbat  is,  the  part- 
ing drivers  at  the  shaft  bottom,  and  the  inside  drivers  at  the 
parting  —  and  ending  at  the  same  places  ;  but  in  no  case  shall 
a  driver's  time  be  docked  while  he  is  waiting  for  such  cars 
at  the  points  named.  The  inside  drivers,  at  their  option,  may 
either  walk  to  and  from  their  parting,  or  take  with  them, 
without  compensation,  either  loaded  or  empty  cars,  to  enable 
them  to  ride.  This  provision,  however,  shall  not  prevent  the 
inside  drivers  from  bringing  to  and  taking  from  the  bottom 
regular  trips,  if  so  directed  by  the  operator,  provided  such 
work  is  done  within  the  eight  hours. 

The  methods  at  present  existing  covering  the  harnessing, 
unharnessing,  feeding,  and  caring  for  the  mules,  shall  be 
continued  throughout  the  scale  year  beginning  April  1,  1903  ; 
but  in  cases  where  any  grievances  exist  in  respect  to  same, 
they  shall  be  referred  to  the  sub-district  meetings  for  ad- 
justment. 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  113 

When  the  stables  at  which  the  mules  are  kept  are  located 
on  the  surface  and  the  mules  are  taken  in  and  out  of  the 
mines  daily  by  the  drivers,  the  question  of  additional  com- 
pensation therefor,  if  any,  is  to  be  left  to  the  sub-districts 
affected  for  adjustment,  at  their  joint  sub-district  meet- 
ings. 

Twenty-fifth.    Mission  Field  Scale.^ 

Twenty-sixth.  The  company  shall  keep  the  mine  in  as 
dry  condition  as  practicable  by  keeping  the  water  off  the 
road  and  out  of  the  working  places.  When  a  miner  has  to 
leave  his  working  place  on  account  of  water,  through  the 
neglect  of  the  company,  they  shall  employ  said  miner  doing 
company  work  when  practicable  and  provided  that  said 
miner  is  competent  to  do  such  work,  or  he  will  be  given  an- 
other working  place  until  such  water  is  taken  out  of  his 
place. 

Twenty-seventh.  The  operator  shall  keep  sufficient  blan- 
kets, oil,  bandages,  etc.,  and  provide  suitable  ambulance  or 
conveyance  readily  available  at  each  mine  to  properly  con- 
vey injured  persons  to  their  homes  after  an  accident. 

Twenty-eighth.  The  operator  shall  see  that  an  equal  turn 
is  offered  each  miner,  and  that  he  be  given  a  fair  chance  to 
obtain  the  same.  The  check  weighman  shall  keep  a  turn 
bulletin  for  the  turn-keeper's  guidance.  The  drivers  shall 
be  subject  to  whomever  the  mine  manager  shall  designate 
as  turn-keeper  in  pursuance  hereof. 

In  mines  where  there  is  both  hand  and  machine  mining, 
an  equal  turn  shall  mean  approximately  the  same  turn  to 
each  man  in  the  machine  part  of  the  mine,  and  approximately 
the  same  turn  to  each  man  doing  handwork  ;  but  not  neces- 
sarily the  same  to  each  hand  miner  as  to  each  man  working 
with  the  machines. 

Twenty-ninth.    There  shall  be  no  demands  made  locally 

that  are  not  specifically  set  forth  in  this  agreement,  except 

as  agreed  to  in  joint  sub-district  meetings  held   ])rior  to 

May  1,  1903.   Where  no  sub-districts  exist,  local  grievances 

^  The  Mission  Field  Scale  is  here  omitted. 


114  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

shall  be  referred  to  the  United  Mine  Workers  State  Ex- 
ecutive Boai'd  and  the  mine  owners  interested. 

The  United  Mine  Workers  of  America,  District  No.  12  : 
W.  R.  Russell,  President. 
T.  J.  Reynolds,  Vice-President. 
W.  D.  Ryan,  Secretary-Treasurer. 
The  Illinois  Coal  Operators  Association  : 

O.  L.  Garrison,  President. 
E.  T.  Bent,  Secretary. 
Springfield,  III,,  March  7,  1903. 

Formal  collective  bargaining  is  also  seen  in  its  full 
development  in  the  agreements  in  the  foundry  trade 
proper,  in  the  railway  business,  in  the  boot  and  shoe 
trade,  and  in  the  building  trades  in  general,  where  they 
are  very  common.^ 

We  have  thus  far  confined  our  view  of  collective 
bargaining  mainly  to  the  United  States.  The  custom, 
however,  is  not  only  much  older  in  Great  Britain,  as 

1  For  other  agreements  than  those  given  in  this  volume  see  the 
Bulletins  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Labor,  Nos.  44,  47,  48,  49. 
Mr.  John  Graham  Brooks,  in  the  Appendix  to  his  volume,  The  Social 
Unrest,  gives  the  latest  joint  agreement  of  the  Master  Carpenters  As- 
sociation and  the  United  Carpenters  Council,  of  Boston.  Professor 
Ashley  in  the  appendices  to  his  Adjustment  of  Wages  prints  the  Indi- 
ana State  agreement  in  the  coal  trade  for  1900  and  the  scales  for  the 
Hocking  Valley  and  the  Pittsburg  District  for  1901-1902.  The  Report 
of  the  Industrial  Commission  (vol.  xvii.)  prints  the  Indianapolis  agree- 
ment of  1900,  the  Illinois  agreement  for  1901-1902,  the  tin-plate  work- 
ers' agreement  for  the  same  year ;  those  of  the  iron  moulders,  the  ma- 
chinists (with  the  Metal  Trades  Association),  the  window-glass  cutters, 
the  typographers,  the  longshoremen ;  the  mason  builders,  and  the 
bricklayers  of  Boston  and  New  York  ;  the  marble  workers,  roofers 
and  sheet  metal  workers,  and  structural  iron  workers  of  New  York  ; 
the  painters  of  Troy,  N.  Y. ;  the  granite  cutters  of  Concord,  N.  H. ; 
the  bakers  and  confectioners  of  Richmond,  Va. ;  the  brewers  of  St. 
Louis ;  butchers  and  their  workmen  ;  the  garment  makers  ;  hotel  em- 
ployees ;  the  metal  polishers,  and  the  woodworkers  ;  and  the  Louis- 
ville and  Nashville  Railroad  employees. 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  115 

we  have  seen  ;  it  is  practised  far  more  commonly  there 
than  in  America,  as  might  be  expected  from  the  more 
advanced  development  of  trade-unionism.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Webb,  in  a  notable  chapter  on  "  The  Method  of 
Collective  Bargaining  "  ("  Industrial  Democracy," 
part  ii.  chapter  ii.),  have  given  a  full  and  luminous 
description  of  the  system,  and  have  shown  its  wide  dif- 
fusion in  the  United  Kingdom.  They  begin  with  the 
informal  bargaining  of  a  group  of  unorganized  work- 
men with  the  foreman  or  employer,  through  their  re- 
presentatives. The  "  collective  will "  of  a  number  of 
men  in  a  cabinet-making  shop,  for  instance,  in  regard 
to  the  proper  price  to  be  paid  for  work  on  a  new  pat- 
tern, finds  expression  through  the  natural  expedient 
of  a  committee,  and  the  employer,  meeting  the  com- 
mittee, comes  to  some  sort  of  agreement  with  this  social 
mind.  He  makes  a  contract  about  the  matter  with  the 
body  of  workers,  not  with  one  or  more  individuals  taken 
separately.  What  is  thus  accomplished  in  the  way  of 
a  "  shop  bargain,"  by  a  shop  club,  is  shown  on  a  larger 
scale  and  in  a  more  elaborate  form  when  a  union  in 
one  of  the  building  trades,  for  example,  agi'ees  with 
all  the  employers  of  a  town  or  district  upon  "  working 
rules,"  which  cover  substantially  the  same  points  as 
the  joint  agreements  we  have  been  observing  in  Amer- 
ica. "  The  number  of  these  '  working  rules  '  in  force 
in  the  United  Kingdom  has  never  been  ascertamed, 
but  it  must  be  very  large,  there  being  scarcely  any 
town  in  which  one  or  other  of  the  building  trades  has 
not  obtained  a  formal  treaty  with  its  employers.  Our 
own  collection  of  these  treaties  in  the  building  trades 
alone  numbers  several  hundred." 

1  Industrial  Democracy,  p,  175  n. 


116  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

Among  the  English  cotton  spinners  and  cotton  weav- 
ers, and  the  iron-shipbuilders,  collective  bargains  are 
made  between  national  organizations  of  employers,  on 
the  one  hand,  and  of  workpeople,  on  the  other,  which 
complete  the  hierarchy  of  agi-eements  and  bind  the 
whole  industry  throughout  the  country.  The  bodies 
making  these  agreements  are  often  termed  "  wages 
boards,"  or  "  boards  of  conciliation  and  arbitration." 
Not  all  the  national  unions  of  England,  however,  have 
at  all  times  followed  this  practice,  when  the  way  was 
open  to  them.  "  A  few  old-standing  wealthy  unions  of 
restricted  membership  have  sometmies  preferred  .  .  . 
to  attain  their  ends  by  the  method  of  mutual  insurance, 
whilst  others,  at  all  periods,  have  been  formed  with  the 
express  design  of  attaining  their  ends  by  the  method 
of  legal  enactment."  ^  The  collective  bargains  made  by 
the  trade-unions,  local  or  national,  have  in  England, 
as  here,  the  effect  of  establishing  a  customary  rule  for 
the  town  or  the  trade  that  governs  non-unionists  as 
well  as  unionists.  Especially  when  the  sliding  scale  is 
a  part  of  the  collective  agreement  are  large  bodies  of 
workmen  in  a  particular  district  brought  under  it,  how- 
ever little  they  may  like  it.  Of  the  120,000  South 
Wales  coal  miners,  not  a  third,  say  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Webb,  are  even  professedly  members  of  any  trade- 
union,  and  many  of  the  organized  workmen  refused  to 
agree  to  the  scale  of  1893.  Nevertheless  they  were 
subjected  to  it  because  the  employers  agreed  with  the 
trade-unions  upon  such  a  scale.  Trade-imions  also  as- 
sist employers'  associations  to  coerce  employers  into 
submission  to  an  agreement  which  they  have  not  signed. 
"  Working  rides "   in  the   building  trades  are  even 

1  Industrial  Democracy,  p.  177. 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  117 

held  by  county  court  judges  to  be  binding  on  the  em- 
ployer, unless  he  has  made  an  express  contract  to  the 
opposite  effect.  Non-unionists,  too,  have  conducted 
great  strikes  and  have  concluded  joint  agreements 
which  became  binding  on  all  the  workers  of  a  disti-ict, 
unionists  and  non-unionists  alike.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb, 
therefore,  state  that  "  collective  bargaining  thus  extends 
over  a  much  larger  field  than  trade-unionism."  Their 
impression  is  that,  "  in  all  skilled  trades,  where  men 
work  in  concert  on  the  employers'  premises,  ninety  per 
cent,  of  the  workmen  find  either  their  rate  of  wages  or 
their  hours  of  work,  and  often  many  other  details,  pre- 
determined by  a  collective  bargain." 

Although  the  system  of  joint  agreements  has  not 
reached  the  same  high  degree  of  development  in  Amer- 
ica as  in  England,  the  tendency  in  this  direction  is  so 
strong  that  for  all  practical  purposes,  not  of  descrip- 
tion but  of  argiunent,  we  may  treat  the  United  States 
as  on  a  par  with  England.  Whether  the  men  enjoying 
the  advantages  of  a  collective  bargain  are  unionists, 
whose  representatives  have  actually  concluded  the  agree- 
ments with  the  employers,  or  non-unionists,  the  actual 
appHcation  of  such  agreements,  by  the  tacit  consent 
of  all  parties,  restricts  the  individual  bargain  to  an 
ever-narrowing  field.  Where  but  very  few  workmen 
are  employed  in  a  petty  shop,  they  may  be  wholly  or 
partly  unionists,  and  the  master  who  would  otherwise 
"  manage  his  own  business  in  his  own  way  "  is  even 
here  confronted  by  conditions  hostile  to  his  time-hon- 
ored theory.  The  range  of  individual  bargaining  is 
more  and  more  limited  to  the  dealings  of  small  employ- 
ers with  non-unionists  whom  they  engage  separately 
and  in  some  degree  secretly.  The  "  custom  of  the  trade  " 


118  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

is  determined  more  and  more  effectually  by  the  system 
of  joint  agreement,  and  the  small  employer  is  influenced 
by  this  custom  to  give  the  wages  or  the  hours  sanctioned 
by  it,  far  more  than  he  is  fully  aware.  Domestic  ser- 
vice is  one  of  the  few  fields  over  the  entire  extent  of 
which  individual  bargaining  seems  to  flourish  undis- 
turbed, but  it  is  at  the  same  time,  in  this  country  at 
least,  one  of  the  fields  where  the  workers  least  need  the 
help  of  a  collective  bargain  to  increase  their  wages  or 
to  lighten  their  work,  —  so  far  does  the  demand  out- 
strip the  supply. 

The  individual  bargain  between  a  single  man  want- 
ing work  and  the  single  employer  —  both  being  "  free  " 
and  imcombined  with  their  kind  —  is  now,  or  will  soon 
be,  the  exception.  Collective  bargaining  between  com- 
bined workmen  and  combined  employei-s  is  the  rule  to- 
day in  all  large-scale  production.  Nothing  can  well  be 
more  futile  than  the  efforts  of  a  few  thinkers  lil^e  Mr. 
T.  S.  Cree  ^  to  invoke  the  magic  formula  of  "  supply 
and  demand  "  against  joint  agreements.  " '  Supply 
and  demand '  is  a  good  phrase  enough,  when  you  know 
how  to  manage  it,"  as  Walter  Bagehot  said,  but  only 
on  that  condition.  When  the  attempt  is  solemnly  made 
to  prove  that  a  trade-imion,  the  essence  of  which  is  col- 
lective bargaining,  cannot  raise  wages,  since  the  supply 
of  laborers  is  the  same  as  before  the  union  existed  or 
acted,  and  the  demand  —  the  money-power  of  the  capi- 
talist to  engage  laborers  —  is  the  same  as  before,  it  is 
evidently  being  manipulated  very  awkwardly,  by  per- 
sons who  substitute  their  own  out-of-date  emotions  for 
an  acceptance  of  the  plain  facts  of  every-day  experi- 

1  In  his  Criticism  of  the  Theory  of  Trade-Unions  (Glasgow,  Bell  and 
Bain,  1895). 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  119 

ence.  Collective  bargains,  f i*eely  accepted  by  both  em- 
ployers and  workinginen,  are  again  and  again  seen  to 
raise  wages  and  shorten  hours.  The  enlightened  em- 
ployer will  accordingly  cease  to  pin  his  faith  to  formu- 
las sadly  misapplied  by  men  who  will  not  let  their 
minds  play  freely  over  the  facts  of  their  own  day.  As 
Bagehot  went  on  to  say  :  "  A  trade-union  establishment 
at  once  alters  the  mental  conditions  ;  it  turns  the 
laborer,  in  the  Stock  Exchange  language,  from  a  weak 
holder  into  a  strong  one  :  it  enables  him  to  hold.  Be- 
fore, he  must  either  take  the  master's  terms  or  starve  ; 
now  he  has  money  to  live  and  will  often  get  more,  be- 
cause he  can  stand  out  for  a  good  bargain."  The  em- 
ployer of  to-day  is  not  free  to  suppose  that  workmen 
may  not  properly  combine  when  combination  with  other 
producers  is  his  own  chief  ambition.  Workmen,  as 
well  as  employers,  act  in  masses  to-day,  as  Jevons  has 
said,  and  not  as  individuals  ;  the  tendencies  of  modern 
industry  have  destroyed  the  veiy  foimdations  of  the 
old  industrial  individualism. 

It  is  not  easy  to  overrate  the  importance  of  collec- 
tive bargaining.  But  we  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact 
at  any  tune  that  its  social  character  does  not  make  col- 
lective bargaining  anything  else,  fundamentally,  than 
bargaining.  The  position  of  one  or  the  other,  or  both, 
of  the  bargaining  parties  has  altered,  but  each  must  still 
"  make  a  bargain  "  if  he  would  continue  in  production. 
He  no  longer  makes  this  bargain  himself  by  dealing 
directly  with  the  other  party.  He  intrusts  this  task  to 
a  representative,  to  whom  he  usually  gives  full  powers 
to  bind  him.  If  he  is  an  employer  belonging  to  a  strong 
shipping  federation,  for  instance,  that  has  triumphed 
more  than  once  over  seamen's  unions,  he  must  still  re- 


120  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

member  that  in  all  bargains  reasonableness  and  fair- 
ness are  strong  forces  ;  that  an  arbitrary  disposition,  an 
unwillingness  to  compromise  on  unessential  points,  a 
determination  thoroughly  to  subdue  the  other  party, 
never  can  make  a  lasting  bargain.  They  can  only  com- 
pel a  temporary  truce  when  the  other  party  is  at  an 
unusual  disadvantage ;  soon,  on  the  slightest  provoca- 
tion, war  will  break  out  again,  and  no  one  "will  suffer 
more  in  the  long  run  than  the  pig-headed  employer. 
So,  too,  the  Knight  of  Labor,  flushed  with  numer- 
ous victories  over  the  employer  in  prosperous  times, 
with  a  rising  market,  needs  to  beware  of  over-confi- 
dence and  the  presumptuous  ambition  of  crushing  the 
Missouri  Pacific  Railway  entirely.  All  bargaining  de- 
pends upon  the  essential  reasonableness  of  the  bargain- 
ers. They  will  not  come  together  unless  a  policy  of 
"  live  and  let  live  "  really  dominates  both  parties,  unless 
a  conciliatory  disposition  actually  possesses  both  in  the 
end,  and  unless  both  are  inclined  to  let  reason  and  the 
will  of  God  prevail.  The  new  wine  of  unionism  too 
often  goes  to  the  head  of  demagogical  leaders  of  the 
industrial  democracy,  and  they  then  conduct  themselves 
as  if  there  should  be  no  limit  to  the  demands  to  be 
made  upon  the  employer.  "  It  is  imagined,"  says  Bage- 
hot,  "  that  because  trade-unions  have  sometimes  raised 
wages  to  some  extent,  they  can  raise  them,  at  any  rate 
gradually,  to  any  extent."^  A  "joint  agreement"  is 
the  coming  together  of  two  :  it  is  not  dictation  by  one 
and  submission  by  the  other.  The  Nemesis  which  waits 
upon  the  over-proud  and  the  domineering  is  as  active 
in  the  world  of  industry  as  in  the  world  of  politics. 

^  See  Bagehot's  admirable  analysis  of  bargaining  in  his  essay  on 
"  Adam  Smith  and  Our  Modern  Economy,"  in  his  Economic  Studies 
(American  edition  of  his  Works,  vol.  v.  pp.  347-359). 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  121 

Collective  bargaining  is  often  confused  with  arbi- 
tration, as  we  shall  presently  have  occasion  to  explain 
in  detail  when  we  come  to  treat  of  the  means  of  end- 
ing industrial  war.  It  will  be  sufficient  for  the  present 
to  say  that  all  arbitration,  jjroperly  so  called,  brings 
in  a  third  party  to  decide  a  controversy  or  end  a  dis- 
agreement. The  decision  of  this  third  party  is  accepted 
by  the  other  two  parties.  But,  when  the  representatives 
of  the  two  parties  get  together  and  confer,  and  come  to 
an  agreement  for  their  princijials,  there  is  no  trace 
of  true  arbitration  present.  The  transaction  is  a  piece 
of  collective  bargaining  ;  and  negotiation  by  principals, 
not  interpretation  by  a  third  party,  is  the  essence  of 
the  transaction.  The  general  agreement,  under  which 
special  agreements  are  made  from  time  to  time,  is  like 
the  written  constitution  of  the  United  States,  under 
which  special  statutes  are  every  year  enacted.  But  if 
this  constitutional  law  of  industry  does  not  provide 
means  for  meeting  the  case  of  a  failure  of  parties  to  agree 
in  a  special  case,  it  is  too  much  like  a  political  con- 
stitution which  does  not  make  provision  for  its  own 
amendment,  or  for  its  possible  failure  to  work  under 
certain  circumstances. 

Collective  bargaining,  in  a  general  way,  tends  to 
promote  industrial  peace,  since  the  agreements  are  un- 
altered for  a  certain  period  of  time,  and  sudden  and 
frequent  disputes  are  not  apt  to  arise  under  them :  as 
a  matter  of  record,  many  strikes  have  thus  been  pre- 
vented. Either  party,  if  discontented  vdth  the  working 
of  the  agreement,  bides  the  time  when  it  will  lapse 
with  as  much  patience  as  it  can  muster.  But  when  a 
joint  agreement  embodies  also  a  stipulation  that,  in 
every  case  of  inability  of  the  parties  to  agree  upon  the 


122  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

right  interpretation  or  the  just  application  of  the 
terms  of  the  agreement,  an  arbitrator  shall  be  called 
in,  to  whose  award  both  parties  bind  themselves  to 
submit,  then  we  have  a  new  and  important  feature 
added.  ^  Arbitration  comes  in  to  supplement  collective 
bargaining.  I  have  thus  far  mainly  quoted  joint  agree- 
ments containing  no  such  stipulation,  or,  in  other  cases, 
I  have  omitted  such  provisions,  in  order  to  keep  the 
case  more  simple.  But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  many  joint 
agreements  contain,  as  one  of  their  most  important 
points,  one  or  more  paragi-aphs  to  the  effect  that  all 
undecided  disputes  shall  go  to  a  third  party  for  adjust- 
ment. So  long  as  this  arbitration  is  restricted  to  inter- 
pretation of  the  joint  agreement,  M'here  the  parties  who 
made  the  agreement  differ,  and  cannot  get  together 
any  further  than  to  agree  to  refer  the  case  to  an  out- 
sider, we  have,  I  rejseat,  tnie  and  proper  arbitration. 
But  whenever  a  third  person  is  called  in,  where  the 
workmen  and  the  employers  cannot  frame  a  new  agree- 
ment for  the  future,  i.  e.,  whenever  they  do  not  succeed 
in  making  a  new  collective  bargain  for  and  by  them- 
selves, then  the  case  is  one  where  collective  bargaining 
has  failed  to  do  the  whole  work.  The  third  party  comes 
in  to  patch  up  a  treaty  of  peace  which  both  of  the  other 
parties  have  agreed  they  will  sign,  leaving  the  terms 
of  it  to  his  judgment. 

If  indi^^dual  bargaining  has  its  defects  and  limita- 
tions, so,  too,  has  collective  bargaining,  although  they 
may  be  of  a  somewhat  different  kind.  Especially  if 
the  collective  bargain  is  signed,  not  by  a  union  or  a 
federation  of  unions,  but  by  a  temporary  association  of 

^  This  is  the  method  followed  by  the  Master  Builders  Association, 
of  Boston,  and  various  local  unions  in  the  building'  trades. 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  123 

workers  in  a  trade,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Newcastle 
engineers  in  1871,  the  danger  of  repudiation  of  the 
agreement,  or  disregard  of  some  of  its  important  pro- 
visions, is  great,  and  there  is  no  recourse  for  the  party 
injured  by  the  default.  Figures  show  that  strikes  are 
more  numerous  in  those  industries  where  collective 
bargaining  is  practised  by  unorganized  workers  than 
in  those  where  the  trade-unions  are  strong.  Beyond  a 
question,  then,  the  best  machinery  for  the  making  and 
the  enforcement  of  joint  agreements  is  supplied  by  an 
employers'  association  on  one  side,  that  can  bind  its 
members,  and  a  trade-miion,  local  or  national,  on  the 
other  side,  that  can  equally  hold  all  its  constituents  to 
the  terms  agreed  upon.  Not  every  union  or  association 
has  been  able  to  do  this.  But  it  is  much  to  the  credit 
of  the  great  majority  of  unions  in  England  and  America 
that  they  have  generally  lived  up  to  the  joint  agree- 
ments which  they  have  made ;  and  the  record  of  the 
employers'  associations  is  equally  good.  But  there  are 
too  many  instances  of  breach  of  contract  by  either 
party  or  both  parties,  as  in  the  case  of  the  National 
Metal  Trades  Association  and  the  Machinists  Union. 
Mr.  E.  F.  Du  Brul,  of  the  Association,  said  at  Phila- 
delphia in  December,  1902  :  ''  We  had  an  agreement 
with  the  Machinists  Union  which  we  claim  they  broke, 
but  which  they  claim  we  broke.  [A  voice,  '  Probably 
both  were  right.']  "  These  instances  are  sufficiently 
numerous  to  make  it  higldy  desirable  that  a  collective 
bargain  pure  and  simple  should  be  supplemented  by 
provisions  in  the  agreement  that  all  disputes  regarding 
the  interpretation  of  the  agi'eement  shall  be  referred  to 
an  arbitrator  for  final  decision. 

So  long,  then,  as  the  parties  provide  for  the  settle- 


124  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

ment  of  disputes  by  means  of  a  committee  made  up  of 
representatives  of  employer  and  employed,  there  can 
be  no  proper  application  of  the  term  arbitration  to  the 
proceeding.  Such  provision  for  the  purely  internal 
settlement  of  difficulties,  whether  informally  by  a  shop 
committee  and  a  foreman,  or  more  formally  by  a  joint 
committee,  according  to  a  written  agreement,  is  part 
of  the  bargain,  and  it  is  carried  out  by  instrmnen- 
talities  belonging  to  the  establishment  or  the  trade. 
Arbitration  comes  in  when  both  parties,  foreseeing  that 
their  representatives  may  not  sometimes  be  able  to  reach 
a  conclusion  by  a  majority  vote,  insert  a  provision  in 
the  agreement  that  the  matter  shall  then  be  referred 
to  a  third  party  outside  the  establishment  or  the  trade. 
This  is  a  confession  that  collective  bargaining  has 
no  magic  power  to  prevent  or  to  settle  all  possible  dis- 
agreements, and  must  therefore  be  sui^plemented  by  a 
resort  to  conciliation  or  arbitration.  Such  resort  is 
only  had  under  such  a  joint  agreement  with  reference 
to  the  construction  to  be  set  upon  the  terms  of  the 
agreement  itself.  There  may  easily  be  an  overlooked 
ambiguity  in  the  use  of  terms  ;  iinforeseen  cases  may 
arise,  apparently  not  belonging  under  any  of  the 
provisions  agreed  upon  ;  new  conditions  may  arise  de- 
manding to  be  brought  under  some  of  the  more  elastic 
clauses  of  the  agreement.  So  long  as  the  term  of  the 
joint  agreement  has  not  expired,  all  such  processes  of 
interpretation,  amendment,  and  readjustment  are  pro- 
cesses of  arbitration,  properly  so  called.  But  when  the 
agreement  has  reached  its  term,  then  the  question 
comes  before  the  two  parties  themselves,  on  what  con- 
ditions they  will  renew  the  compact.  In  the  light  of 
their  experience  of  the  practical  working  of  the  agree- 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  125 

ment,  as  self-explanatory  or  as  interpreted  by  the  arbi- 
trators whom  they  have  called  in,  both  parties  may  agree 
upon  certain  changes  in  the  document,  the  effect  of 
which  will  be  to  incorporate  the  decisions  of  the  arbi- 
trator into  the  new  agreement.  Or  they  may  agree  to  re- 
ject the  interpretation  of  the  arbitrator,  and  revise  the 
document  so  that  such  interpretations  will  not  be  admis- 
sible for  future  arbitrators.  In  either  case,  a  new  and 
true  collective  bargain  is  made  which  will  narrow  the 
possible  range  of  arbitration  thereafter.  In  this  way 
each  successive  bargain  may  profit  by  the  arbitrations 
made  under  all  its  predecessors,  and  each  agreement 
thus  becomes  more  clear,  explicit,  and  comprehensive. 
Thus  we  see  collective  bargaining  and  arbitration 
supplementing  each  other ;  neither  takes  the  place 
of  the  other. 

There  is  no  absolute  guarantee  of  industrial  peace 
in  the  method  of  collective  bargaining,  even  when  sup- 
plemented by  arbitration.  When  a  joint  agreement 
has  terminated,  one  party  or  the  other  or  both  may 
have  been  so  displeased  with  its  results,  whether  it  has 
been  modified  by  the  decisions  of  an  arbitrator  or  not, 
that  they  refuse  to  enter  into  a  new  compact.  One 
bargain  has  expired,  and  no  new  one  can  be  made  in 
the  existing  state  of  mind  of  the  parties.  If  the  work- 
men refuse  to  enter  into  a  new  joint  agreement,  their 
refusal  is  as  much  a  "  strike"  as  if,  in  the  absence 
of  such  an  agreement,  they  had  declared  a  cessation 
of  work  for  any  reason.  If  the  employers,  in  turn,  de- 
cline to  make  a  fresh  collective  bargain,  a  lockout  is 
declared  as  really  as  if  it  had  been  proclaimed  with  no 
previously  existing  agreement.  To  bring  the  two  par- 
ties together  would  be  the  work,  in  this  case,  not  of 


126       COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

arbitration,  but  of  conciliation.  A  furtlier  refinement 
of  the  collective  bargain,  beyond  the  invocation  of  ar- 
bitrators to  settle  the  construction  of  disputed  clauses, 
might  then  be  made,  providing  that,  when  an  agree- 
ment has  expired  by  the  lapse  of  time  and  the  two 
parties  cannot  agree  to  the  terms  of  its  continuance, 
then  the  points  in  dispute  shall  be  referred  to  a  third 
party  whose  decision  shall  be  accepted  by  the  contract- 
ing parties.  This  action  by  an  outsider  would  be  in  the 
nature,  not  of  arbitration  proper,  but  of  conciliation, 
as  it  refers,  not  to  the  interpretation  of  a  past  agree- 
ment, but  to  the  adjustment  of  the  terms  of  a  new 
agreement,  —  an  adjustment  which  the  two  parties  have 
agreed  to  accept  as  binding.  If  this  step  forward  in 
the  development  of  the  joint-agreement  system  were 
generally  taken  by  workmen  and  employers,  there 
would  be  little  need  of  invoking  the  intervention  of 
the  State.  The  fact  that  collective  bargaining  has  not 
yet  reached  this  advanced  stage  renders  advisable  the 
discussion  of  courts  of  arbitration  and  conciliation. 

A  more  vital  question  at  present  is  that  of  the  best 
means  to  employ  for  holding  both  parties  to  strict 
obedience  to  the  joint  agreements  which  they  have  made, 
whether  these  provide  for  arbitration  of  disputed  points 
or  do  not  so  provide.  Such  agreements  have  usually 
been  without  any  penalty  clause,  so  that  the  keeping  of 
them  has  been  a  matter  of  honor.  The  law  of  the  land 
has  thus  far  paid  no  attention  to  this  important  sphere 
of  contract  which  has  grown  up  under  recent  condi- 
tions, while  legislators  have  contemplated  only  condi- 
tions now  largely  outgrown.  A  course  that  naturally 
suggests  itself  is  the  bringing  of  both  parties  to  such 
collective  bargains  within  the  authority  of  the  law.    If 


COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  1^7 

statute  law  has  not  yet  given  attention  to  this  variety 
of  industrial  conduct,  there  is  no  sufficient  reason  why  it 
should  remain  perpetually  blind.  A  revision  of  the  law 
of  contracts  in  order  to  make  it  include  such  joint 
agreements  would  not  be  a  strained  device.  As  the  em- 
ployer, individual  or  associated,  can  already  make  a 
binding  contract  (which  will  have  practical  worth  and 
validity,  since  he  has  property  which,  in  case  of  breach 
of  contract,  can  be  attached  in  a  suit),  it  would  remain 
only  for  the  union  with  which  he  deals  to  come  into 
an  equal  position  of  legal  obligation.  In  other  words, 
it  would  need  to  be  incorporated,  in  order  to  become, 
palpably  and  indisputably,  a  body  able  to  make  bind- 
ing contracts.  In  case  the  agreement  is  to  be  between 
a  number  of  employers,  on  the  one  hand,  and  a  trade- 
union  or  a  number  of  trade-unions,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  employers  should  be  incorporated  so  as  to  become 
immediately  responsible,  and  the  union  or  unions  should 
also  be  incorporated.  Employers,  being  already  respon- 
sible parties  before  the  law,  make  little  if  any  objec- 
tion when  this  plan  is  proposed  to  them  as  associations. 
Without  incorporation,  they  are  individually  liable  for 
the  acts  of  such  an  association  to  an  extent  generally 
considered  undesirable.  Incorporation  would  bring  to 
them  a  lessening  of  responsibility,  and  the  popularity 
of  incorporation  of  ordinary  business  enterprises,  in 
place  of  individual  ventures  or  partnership  combina- 
tions, shows  how  widely  these  advantages  are  felt.  But 
the  trade-unionists  take  a  very  different  attitude  toward 
incorporation.  Most  of  them  are  violently  opposed  to 
it.  In  respect  to  the  particular  point  before  us,  they 
declare  that  it  is  far  better  that  trade  agreements 
should  depend  on  the  honor  of  the  parties  than  that 


128  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

the  unions  should  be  exposed  naked  to  their  enemies, 
as  they  are  confident  would  be  the  case.  As  this  mat- 
ter is  one  which  deeply  concerns  the  future  of  collective 
bargaining,  we  shall  do  well  to  consider  it  in  detail ;  but 
let  us  first  review  the  interesting  history  of  the  variety 
of  the  collective  bargain  known  as  the  sliding  scale.^ 

^  The  most  important  treatments  of  collective  bargaining  under  this 
name  have  been  mentioned  in  this  chapter,  in  the  references  to  the 
volumes  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb  and  Professor  Ashley,  and  to  the  sev- 
enteenth volume  of  the  Industrial  Commission  Report.  Mr.  T.  G. 
Spyers,  in  his  epitome  of  the  evidence  and  the  report  of  the  Royal 
Commis.sion  on  Labour,  entitled  TTie  Labour  Question,  has  a  brief 
chapter  on  the  subject  in  connection  with  strikes.  Older  books  vindi- 
cating the  right  of  combination  in  trade-unions  treat  substantially  the 
same  phenomenon  under  a  different  name,  but  with  a  difference  of 
emphasis.  F.  Moissenet's  Etude  sur  les  Contrats  Collectifs  is  a  legal 
essay  (Paris,  1903). 


CHAPTER  V 

THE    SLIDING   SCALE 

Although  the  sliding  scale  ^  has  had  a  much  wider 
adoption  in  England  than  in  the  United  States,  it  was 
first  practised,  in  a  notable  degree,  of  recent  years  in 
this  country .2  The  earliest  American  sliding  scale  was 
adopted  in  1864,  "  in  the  manufactories  of  New  Eng- 
land," according  to  Professor  Munro  ("  Sliding  Scales 
in  the  Iron  Industry  "),  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  J,  D. 
Weeks.  But  the  first  one  to  become  well  known  was 
due  to  the  United  Sons  of  Vulcan,  an  organization  of 
iron  boilers  and  puddlers.    Originated  in  Pittsburg  in 

^  The  late  Professor  J.  E.  C.  Munro's  definition  of  this  method  of 
wage-payment  in  the  coal  industry  is  comprehensive  and  authoritative  : 
"  The  '  sliding  scale  '  is  a  method  by  which  wages,  based  on  a  stand- 
ard wage  payable  at  a  standard  price,  rise  or  fall  an  agreed  percen- 
tage with  every  agreed  rise  or  fall  in  the  average  price  of  coal  at  the 
mines,  such  average  price  being  ascertained  at  fixed  intervals."  (Slid- 
ing Scales  in  the  Coal  Industry,  p.  6.  This  paper  was  contributed  to 
the  meeting  of  the  British  Association  in  1885,  and  printed  in  the 
volume  of  its  Proceedings  for  that  year.  Another  paper  on  "  Sliding 
Scales  in  the  Iron  Industry  "  may  be  found  in  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Manchester  Statistical  Society  for  1885. )  Professor  Munro  is  the  lead- 
ing authority  on  this  subject,  although  his  estimate  of  the  value  of  the 
method  now  seems  exaggerated.  Mr.  L.  L.  (F.  R.)  Price,  in  his  slender 
volume  on  Industrial  Peace,  a  report  made  to  the  Toynbee  Trustees 
and  first  printed  in  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Statistical  Society  for 
March,  1887,  has  treated  minutely  the  sliding  scales  in  the  English 
coal  and  iron  trades.  Mr.  Price's  valuable  work,  though  not  found  in 
his  publishers'  catalogue,  is  fortunately  not  out  of  print. 

^  Professor  S.  J.  Chapman,  in  an  article  noted  later  in  this  chapter, 
says  that  "  The  first  sliding  scale  was  Thornicroft's,  whic-h  was  intro- 
duced in  1840."  The  next  w,as  that  for  puddlers  and  mill  men  in  the 
North  of  England  and  Staffordshire  in  1863. 


130 


THE  SLIDING  SCALE 


1858,  by  the  local  union  known  as  the  Iron  City 
Forge,  this  body  was  the  parent  of  the  great  Associa- 
tion of  Iron,  Steel,  and  Tin  Workers  of  the  United 
States.i  In  February,  1865,  connnittees  representing 
the  manufacturers  and  the  boilers  met  in  general  con- 
ference and  adopted  the  following :  — 

Memorandum  of  Agreement,  made  this  thirteenth  day  of 
February,  1865,  between  a  committee  of  Boilers  and  a  com- 
mittee from  the  Iron  Manufacturers,  appointed  to  fix  a  scale 
of  prices  to  be  paid  for  boiling  pig  iron,  based  on  the  manu- 
facturers' card  of  prices ;  it  being  understood  either  party 
shall  have  the  right  and  privilege  to  terminate  this  agree- 
ment by  giving  ninety  days'  notice  to  the  other  party,  and 
that  there  shall  be  no  deviation  without  such  notice.  When 
the  manufacturers'  card  of  prices  are  at  the  rates  named 
below  the  price  for  boiling  shall  be  at  the  prices  opposite 
per  ton  of  2,240  pounds. 


Mauufacturers. 

Boilers. 

Manufacturers. 

Boilers. 

SJ             cents  per  pound 

fO.OO 

5i  and  5J  cents  per  pound 

16.00 

8i                "         "         " 

8.75 

5    and  ii     "      "        " 

5.75 

8                 "        "        " 

8.50 

aand4i     "      "        " 

5.50 

7|               "        "        " 

8.25 

4    and  33     "       "         " 

5.00 

1\  and  11  "        "        " 

8.00 

S^andSi     "       " 

4.75 

7    and  6|  "        "        " 

7.50 

3    and2|     "      " 

4.50 

6J  and  6J  "        "        " 

7.00 

2.                 ..       ..        .. 

4.00 

6    and  5J  "        "        " 

6.50 

This  scale  remained  in  effect  but  a  short  time.  Iron 
fell  from  7^  cents  a  pound  in  February,  1865,  to  4 
cents  in  July.  The  boilers  gave  the  required  ninety 
days'  notice.  At  the  end  of  this  time  the  scale  would 
have  given  them  !|6.00  a  ton,  the  tide  having  turned ; 
but  they  asked  and  received  $8.00  without  the  scale. 

^  See  the  articles  by  Labor  Commissioner  Carroll  D.  Wrig-ht  in  the 
Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics,  for  November,  1901,  and  July,  1893. 
See  also  vol.  xvii.  of  the  Industrial  Commission's  Report,  pp.  339-347. 


THE  SLIDING  SCALE  131 

Later,  the  United  Sons  of  Vulcan  procured  the  adoi> 
tion  of  a  new  sliding  scale,  which  was  signed  JiJy  23, 
1867.  This  provided  that  $9.00  a  ton  should  be  paid 
until  August  17  ;  from  that  time  until  September  15, 
$8.00  ;  and  then  this  price  and  a  5-cents  card  rate  being 
taken  as  the  standard,  there  should  thereafter  be  a  reduc- 
tion or  an  advance  of  twenty-five  cents  for  each  change 
of  one  quarter  of  a  cent  per  pound  on  card  rates  until 
a  3-cents  rate  gave  $6.00  for  boiling.  Either  party 
could  terminate  the  arrangement  by  giving  thirty  days' 
notice.  This  scale  was  afterwards  modified  to  allow 
changes  by  tenths  of  a  cent  per  pound  instead  of  quar- 
ters of  a  cent ;  in  this  form  it  fixed  the  wages  for  boil- 
ing iron  for  seven  years,  until  1874.  A  number  of 
conferences  were  held  in  vain  in  November  and  early 
December  of  that  year,  after  the  manufacturers  had 
given  notice  to  terminate  the  agreement.  A  strike 
began  and  continued  for  the  whole  winter.  On  the 
15th  of  April,  1875,  the  manufacturers  voted  to  re- 
sume at  $5.50,  iron  being  at  2^  cents  a  poimd.  Each 
manufacturer  signed  the  same  scale  as  the  others,  but 
individually :  the  system  of  joint  agreement  between 
the  manufacturers  and  the  puddlers  thus  came  to  an 
end  and  was  not  afterward  resumed.  But  in  other 
branches  of  the  iron  business  trade-miions  had  been 
formed,  and  scales  were  adopted  by  them.  These  bodies 
united  with  the  Sons  of  Vulcan  in  1875,  to  form  the 
Amalgamated  Association  of  Iron,  Steel,  and  Tin 
Workers  of  the  United  States.  "  Where  the  Amalga- 
mated Association  is  recognized,  the  agreement  and 
sliding  scale  systems  prevail,"  the  agreement  being  be- 
tween the  unions  and  either  individual  manufactui'ers 
or  associations  of  manufacturers. 


132  THE  SLIDING  SCALE 

In  the  anthracite  coal  region  of  Pennsylvania  the 
Workingmen's  Benevolent  Association,  the  general 
union  of  the  trade,  ordered  a  strike  on  May  10,  1869, 
to  secure  the  adoption  of  a  sliding  scale.  This  was 
granted  by  the  majority  of  the  companies  some  five 
weeks  later.  "  When  coal  sold  at  13.00  a  ton  at  Port 
Carbon,  outside  labor  was  to  get  $11.00  a  week ;  in- 
side labor  $12.00  ;  platform  men  $11.50,  and  miners 
$14.00  clear  of  all  expenses.  Prices  of  coal  were  to  be 
taken  from  five  operators,  each  producing  more  than 
30,000  tons  a  year,  and  to  be  selected  every  month  by 
representatives  of  the  union.  The  sizes  to  be  taken 
into  consideration  were  75  per  cent,  large  coal,  12|- 
per  cent,  chestnut,  and  12^-  per  cent,  peanut  coal.  For 
every  advance  of  25  cents  over  the  $3.00  a  ton,  50 
cents  was  to  be  added  to  the  weekly  wage  and  5  cents 
on  the  price  paid  per  wagon  for  mining.  The  price  of 
coal  was  not  to  fall  below  $3.00  per  ton.  .  .  .  The 
sliding  scale  agreement  drafted  by  the  men  themselves 
was  expected  to  work  smoothly.  It  did  not,  however. 
In  August  the  union  asked  for  a  20  per  cent,  advance, 
which  was  10  per  cent,  above  the  rates  coming  to  them 
on  the  basis  laid  down  the  previous  June.  It  was  a 
gross  violation  of  the  contract  voluntarily  entered  into 
by  the  miners."  ^  In  October  some  collieries  struck, 
and  in  January,  1870,  the  Anthracite  Board  of  Trade 
of  Schuylkill  County  gave  notice  to  their  men  that  the 
$3.00  basis  would  be  reduced  to  $2.00,  and  the  miners 
struck.  This  was  followed  by  an  order  from  the  union 
for  a  general  suspension,  "  asking  for  eight  hours  and 
the  old  basis."    In  August,  1870,  a  compromise  went 

^  The  Anthracite  Coal  Industry,  by  Peter  Roberts,  Ph.  D.,  pp. 
177,  178. 


THE  SLIDING  SCALE  133 

into  effect  on  the  basis  of  12.50,  outside  labor  to  be 
paid  19.13  a  week;  inside  labor  -19.96,  and  miners 
$11.90.  But  a  six  months'  strike  ensued,  after  a  no- 
tice of  a  reduction  of  30  per  cent,  in  wages  by  the 
three  leading  companies  of  the  Northern  coal  fields ; 
the  men  were  badly  beaten,  and  "  went  to  work  on  the 
terms  of  the  employers."  "  In  Schuylkill  the  question 
of  the  basis  was  submitted  to  arbitration."  The  arbi- 
trator fixed  this  at  $2.75,  this  giving  the  miner  $13.00 
a  week  clear  of  expenses  ;  the  inside  laborer,  $11.00  ; 
the  outside  laborer,  $10.00  ;  10  per  cent,  reduction  on 
contract  work,  and  1  per  cent,  advance  or  reduction 
for  every  3-cent  change  in  the  price  of  coal,  "  but  the 
price  was  not  to  fall  lower  than  $2.25  at  Port  Car- 
bon." 1  In  January,  1875,  the  Schuylkill  operators 
reduced  wages  10  per  cent.  "The  long  strike"  fol- 
lowed, but  in  June  the  Schuylkill  miners  went  to 
work  on  a  20  per  cent,  reduction.  After  that  "  the 
rates  paid  labor  according  to  the  price  of  coal  were 
wholly  left  in  the  hands  of  the  operators." 

In  October,  1900,  a  convention  of  the  striking  min- 
ers of  that  year  demanded  that  the  sliding  scale  in 
vogue  in  the  Middle  and  Southern  fields  since  1870 
should  be  discontinued,  and  the  companies  agreed  to 
this.  The  great  anthracite  strike  of  1902,  however, 
has  had  for  one  of  its  results  the  reestablishment  of 
the  system  under  the  awards  of  the  Coal  Strike  Com- 
mission. The  commissioners  awarded  an  increase  of 
wages  to  the  mine  workers  for  three  years.  In  pre- 
scribing the  sliding  scale,  they  did  not  expect  "  any 
immediate  addition  to  the  increases  already  provided 
for  in  the  earnings  and  wages  of  mine  workers,  or  that 

1   The  Anthracite  Coal  Industry,  pp.  179,  ISO. 


134  THE  SLIDING  SCALE 

it  necessarily  means  an  increase  at  all,  but  with  the 
thought  that  if,  in  the  future,  the  price  of  coal  should 
become  what  might  be  called  abnormally  high,  there 
might  be  participation  by  miners  and  mine  workers  in 
the  profits  derived  from  such  increased  price."  ^ 
This  was  the  scheme  of  the  Commission  :  — 

The  Commission,  therefore,  adjudges  and  awards  :  That 
the  following  sliding  scale  of  wages  shall  become  effective 
April  1, 1903,  and  shall  affect  all  miners  and  mine  workers 
included  in  the  awards  of  the  Commission  :  — 

The  wages  fixed  in  the  awards  shall  be  the  basis  of,  and 
the  minimum  under,  the  sliding  scale. 

For  each  Increase  of  five  cents  in  the  average  price  of 
white  ash  coal  of  sizes  above  pea  coal,  sold  at  or  near  New 
York,  between  Perth  Amboy  and  Edgewater,  and  reported 
to  the  Bureau  of  Anthracite  Coal  Statistics,  above  $4.50 
per  ton  f.  o.  b.,  the  employees  shall  have  an  increase  of  1 
per  cent,  in  their  compensation,  which  shall  continue  until 
a  change  m  the  average  price  of  said  coal  works  a  reduction 
or  an  increase  in  said  additional  compensation  hereunder  ; 
but  the  rate  of  compensation  shall  in  no  case  be  less  than 
that  fixed  in  the  award.  That  is,  when  the  price  of  said 
coal  reaches  $4.55  per  ton,  the  compensation  wiU  be  in- 
creased 1  per  cent.,  to  continue  untd  the  price  falls  below 
$4.55  per  ton,  when  the  1  per  cent,  increase  will  cease,  or 
until  the  price  reaches  $4.60  per  ton,  when  an  additional  1 
per  cent,  will  be  added,  and  so  on. 

These  average  prices  shall  be  computed  monthly,  by  an 
accountant  or  commissioner,  named  by  one  of  the  circuit 
judges  of  the  third  judicial  circuit  of  the  United  States,  and 
paid,  by  the  coal  operators,  such  compensation  as  the 
appointing  judge  may  fix,  which  compensation  shall  be  dis- 
tributed among  the  operators  in  proportion  to  the  tonnage 
of  each  mine. 

In  order  that  the  basis  may  be  laid  for  the  successful 
^  Report  of  the  Commission,  pp.  71,  72. 


THE  SLIDING  SCALE  135 

working  of  the  sliding  scale  provided  herein,  it  is  also  ad- 
judged and  awarded  :  That  all  coal-operating  companies 
file  at  once  with  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Labor, 
a  certified  statement  of  the  rates  of  compensation  paid  in 
each  occupation  known  in  their  companies,  as  they  existed 
April  1,  1902.1 

The  sliding-scale  method  has  generally  commended 
itself  as  a  considerable  approach,  at  least,  to  a  "  fair 
wage  "  system.  Workingmen  have  proposed  it  on  this 
ground.  It  has  seemed  to  them,  as  it  has  seemed  to 
most  economists,  that  the  prices  obtained  for  a  pro- 
duct measure,  fairly  well,  the  profits  made  by  the  man- 
ufacturer. When  prices  are  high  the  natural  presump- 
tion, under  ordinary  circumstances,  is  that  the  employer 
is  making  money.  When  prices  are  low,  one  naturally 
thinks  that  the  employer  is  making  less  money,  if  not 
actually  losing  money.  A  scheme,  then,  which  alters 
wages  as  profits  apparently  vary,  according  to  prices, 
is  self-commending.  The  United  Sons  of  Vulcan  were 
moved  to  ask  for  a  sliding  scale  by  an  obvious  inequity 
in  this  direction.  In  1837  the  wage  paid  for  boiling  a 
ton  of  iron  was  seven  dollars  ;  by  1858  this  price  had 
gradually  been  reduced  to  three  dollars  and  a  quarter, 
but  iron  sold  for  nearly  ten  dollars  a  ton  more  than  in 
1837.  The  inevitable  comment  on  this  state  of  things 
Commissioner  C.  D.  Wright  gives  in  the  article  recently 
quoted :  "  It  is  easily  seen  that  the  boilers  were  not 
receiving  a  fair  proportion  of  the  profit  of  production 
for  their  labor."  ^  The   sliding   scale  aims  to  correct 

1  By  November  14,  1903,  there  had  been  five  increases  of  wages 
granted  under  this  sliding  scale,  a  (5  per  cent,  increase  having  been 
reached  in  October,  by  successive  steps  from  an  increase  of  2  per  cent, 
in  June. 

'^  Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics  for  1893,  p.  404. 


136  THE  SLIDING  SCALE 

this  injustice  through  an  automatic  regulation  of  wages, 
as  prices  change.  As  Professor  Marshall  says :  "  The 
sliding  scale,  when  working  at  its  best,  arranges  that 
those  influences  which  short-period  fluctuations  in  the 
price  of  a  commodity  are  bound  to  exercise  on  the  cur- 
rent wages  (the  quasi-rents)  of  the  labor  by  which 
they  are  made,  shall  work  themselves  out  smoothly  and 
easily." 

There  is  plainly  something  of  a  reaction  to-day  in 
the  industrial  world,  and  among  economists  also,  from 
the  favor  accorded  to  the  sliding  scale  a  dozen  years 
since.  How  far  this  reaction  will  go  remains  to  be  seen  ; 
but  numerous  sliding  scales,  once  effective  and  satis- 
factoiy,  have  been  abandoned  in  England  as  well  as 
in  America,  and  several  economists  of  ability  have 
expressed  themselves  unfavorably  on  the  question  of 
the  theoretical  soundness  of  the  principle.  Professor 
Munro's  declaration  that  the  sliding  scale  is  "  the  great- 
est discovery  in  the  distribution  of  wealth  since  Ricar- 
do's  enunciation  of  the  law  of  rent,"  would  be  endorsed 
by  very  few  to-day.^  The  four  scales  adopted  in  the 
Durham  coal  fields  from  1877  to  1884,  have  been  suc- 
ceeded (since  1889)  by  a  system  of  conciliation  and 
arbitration.  The  two  Northumberland  sliding  scales, 
of  1879  and  1883  (the  latter  terminated  by  the  mas- 
ters in  1887),  have  likewise  given  way  to  a  joint  com- 
mittee arranging  wages  and  other  labor  matters  at 
meetings  held  every  two  months.  Professor  William 
Smart,  in  his  excellent  paper  in  praise  of  the  system,  ^ 
names   other  sliding  scales  formerly  in   effect  in  the 

^  "  That  it  has  a  great  future  before  it,  not  only  in  the  iron  and  coal 
trades,  but  in  other  industries,  I  have  no  doubt." 
2  Studies  in  Economics,  No.  3,  1895. 


THE  SLIDING  SCALE  137 

Caiinock  Chase,  Ocean,  Bedworth,  and  Somerset  col- 
lieries, and  also  mentions  the  absence  of  the  method 
from  the  coal  mines  of  North  and  West  Lancashire, 
Leicestershire,  Derbyshire,  and  Yorkshire.  In  Scotland 
a  sliding  scale  adopted  in  Ayrshire  in  1873  continued 
but  one  year,  and  an  interesting  scale  adopted  by  the 
Lanarkshire  Coal-masters  Association  in  1887  lasted 
but  two  years.  (It  should  be  noted  that  any  scale  thus 
imposed  by  one  side  on  the  other  fails  of  being  a  ti-ue 
collective  bargain.) 

The  several  sliding  scales  which  were  actually  in  oper- 
ation in  the  coal  industry  when  Professor  Smart  wrote 
in  1895,  and  upon  which  he  chiefly  relied  in  his  com- 
mendation of  the  system,  have  since  been  abandoned  in 
favor  of  other  methods.  As  my  purpose  in  this  volmne 
is  to  give,  not  a  history  of  all  the  efforts  made  toward 
industrial  peace,  but  rather  a  view  of  the  methods  now 
in  force  or  on  trial,  I  shall  pass  over  these  scales  with  a 
brief  mention.  The  South  Wales  and  Monmouthshire 
scale  residted  from  a  great  strike  in  1875.  It  was  to 
be  revised  every  six  months  ;  it  presented  a  minimum  ^ 
and  a  maximum  wage.  The  second  scale,  dated  Janu- 
ary, 1880,  abandoned  these  upper  and  lower  limits  of 
wages ;  it  was  to  last  for  two  years  and  to  be  revised 
every  four  months.  It  provided  for  an  extraordinary 
advance  in  wages  when  coal  reached  a  certam  high 
selling  point ;  this  is  the  so-called  "  double  jimip," 
which  operated  in  a  similar  manner  to  reduce  wages 
when  coal  prices  feU  to  the  same  figure.  The  third 
scale,  of  June,  1882,  "  was  substantially  the  same  as  the 

^  "  In  1878  the  miners  consented  to  a  reduction  of  five  per  cent,  be- 
low the  minimum,  which,  however,  was  made  up  to  them  by  a  special 
bonus  for  one  year  under  tlie  second  sciile." 


138  THE  SLIDING  SCALE 

second."  Passing  over  several  of  its  successors,  we 
may  note  the  change  of  the  revision  period  in  the  scale 
of  1895  to  two  months.^  For  further  particulars  of 
these  scales,  as  well  as  of  those  operating  in  the  Cum- 
berland coal  mines  from  1879  onward,  and  in  the  South 
Staffordshire  mines  from  1888  onward.  Professor 
Smart  should  be  consulted. 

The  record  of  the  sliding  scale  in  the  iron  and  steel 
industries  of  Great  Britain  shows  a  much  shorter  list 
of  changes  to  wages  or  conciliation  boards  with  joint 
agreements  not  variable  for  a  fixed  term.  These  boards, 
as  we  shall  see,  are  widely  prevalent  in  the  iron  and 
steel  trades,  and  most  of  them  operate  sliding  scales  ; 
many  have  had  these  scales  in  effect  for  considerable 
periods  and  have  found  them  very  conducive  to  har- 
mony. As  specimens  of  the  scales  now  prevailing,  I 
take  from  Professor  Ashley's  recent  volume,  "  The  Ad- 
justment of  Wages,"  these  two  agreements. 

MIDLAND   IRON   AND   STEEL   WAGES   BOARD. 

Sliding  scale  for  the  regulation  of  ironworkers'  wages, 
prepared  by  the  Sliding  Scale  Committee  appointed  Oc- 
tober 8,  1889,  and  finally  confirmed  by  the  unanimous 
resolution  of  the  Board  passed  October  21,  1889. 

1.  The  employers  have  selected  six  firms,  and  the  operar 
tives  six  firms,  as  follows,  whose  books  are  to  be  examined 
by  the  accountants    [names  of  the  firms  here  omitted]. 

2.  The  employers  and  operatives  jointly  appointed  Messrs. 
B.  Smith,  Sons,  &  Wilkie,  accountants,  of  Darlington  Street, 
Wolverhampton,  as  accountants  for  the  purposes  of  the  scale, 
and  they  are  instructed  — 

^  The  sliding  scale  "  was  forced  back  "  vipon  the  South  Wales  mi- 
ners by  the  coal  owners  in  1898,  after  a  desperate  strike  against  it. 
(Ashley,  p.  38.) 


THE  SLIDING  SCALE  139 

(a)  To  take  out  the  weights  and  selling  price  of  all 
classes  of  iron  as  rolled  and  delivered  from  the  mills  (except- 
ing charcoal  iron,  cold  rolled,  or  that  which  has  been  sub- 
ject to  any  additional  process,  and  steel  sheets,  scrap  ends, 
and  defective  sheets)  sold  by  the  twelve  selected  firms, 
every  two  m,onths,  commencing  with  September  and  Octo- 
ber, 1889,  as  the  first  bi-monthly  period.  This  ascertain- 
ment shall  regulate  wages  for  the  two  months  of  December 
and  January,  and  so  on,  as  shown  thus  : — 

The  average  net  selling  price,       WiU  regulate  wages  for 
two  months  ending  two  months  ending 

October  31,  1889 Last  Saturday  in  January,  1890 

December  31,  1889 "  "  March,  1890 

February  28,  1890 "  "  May,  1890 

April  30,  1890 "  «  July,  1890 

June  30,  1890 "  "  September,  1890 

August  31,  1890 "  "  November,  1890 

October  31,  1890 "  "  January,  1891 

And  so  on. 

{V)  For  this  purpose,  books  or  sheets  are  to  be  provided 
by  the  board  for  the  private  use  of  each  firm,  in  which  all 
sales  as  aforesaid  are  to  be  entered,  and  the  selling  expenses 
are  to  be  shown  under  the  following  heads :  1.  Railway 
Dues,  Freight,  Insurance,  etc.  2.  Discount,  2i  per  cent, 
being  the  usual  amount  for  each  payment  in  the  district. 
3.  Commission. 

(c)  The  books  or  sheets  shall  be  cast  up  at  the  end  of 
each  two  unonths,  showing  totals  of  sales  and  expenses,  from 
which  the  net  average  selling  price  of  the  total  tonnage  shall 
be  ascertained. 

(o?)  These  books  or  sheets  shall  be  examined  by  the  ac- 
countant, by  comparing  them  with  the  existing  books  of  the 
firm. 

(e)  The  accountant  shall  forward  to  the  employers'  and 
the  operatives'  secretaries  certificates  duly  signed,  showing 
the  result  of  his  examination,  at  least  one  week  before  the 
bi-monthly  wages  settlements. 


140 


THE  SLIDING  SCALE 


(/)  The  accountant  to  be  so  chosen  and  instructed  shall 
give  an  undertaking  in  writing  that  he  wiU  under  no  cir- 
cumstances disclose  to  any  other  person  the  details  of  the 
books  he  has  examined. 

3.  The  average  selling  price  having  thus  been  ascertained, 
the  standing  committee,  consisting  of  the  chairman  and  vice- 
chairman  of  the  board,  and  the  two  secretaries,  with  two 
other  members  belonging  to  each  section  of  the  board,  shall 
meet  and  declare  the  price  of  puddling  per  imperial  ton,  in 
the  following  manner  :  — 

{a)  Puddlers'  wages  shall  be  one  shilling  and  nlnepence 
(one  shilling  and  sixpence,  —  Resolution  of  July  31,  1893) 
in  excess  of  one  shilling  for  each  poimd  sterhng  per  ton  in 
selling  price,  and  the  fractional  parts  shall  be  regulated 
thus : — 


iP) 


s. 

d. 

s. 

d 

From 

over 

2 

6 

to    5 

0  .. 

. .  wages 

M. 

5 

0 

to     7 

6  .. 

M. 

7 

6 

to  10 

0  .. 

6d. 

10 

0 

to  12 

6  .. 

6-d. 

12 

6 

to  15 

0  .. 

9d. 

15 

0 

to  17 

6  .. 

9d. 

17 

6 

to  20 

0  .. 

Is.^ 

(c)  Millmen's  wages  shall  be  advanced  or  reduced  in  the 
same  way  as  heretofore,  viz. :  — 

For  Is.  Puddling 10  per  cent.  MiUmen 

"    9d.         "  7^     •'        "  " 

"    6d.         "  5       '^        "  " 

*'    Sd.         "         2i-     "       "  " 

{d)  Such  rates  to  include  all  claims  in  lieu  of  Northern 
extras. 

4.  The  sliding  scale  thus  established  shall  continue  in  oper- 
ation until  determined  by  notice  from  either  side,  in  writ- 

^  The  rate  paid  per  ton  between  1892  and  1900,  in  accordance 
with  this  scale,  varied  between  7s.  -M.  and  9s.  The  list  will  be  found 
in  the  Board  of  Trade  Report  on  Standard  Piece  Hates  and  Sliding 
Scales  (1900),  p.  28. 


THE  SLIDING  SCALE  141 

ing,  of  one  calendar  month,  such  notice  to  terminate  at  the 
close  of  one  of  the  bi-monthly  periods  for  which  wages  are 
regulated  by  this  scale. 

THE   PIG-IRON   TRADE   OF   SCOTLAND. 

Rules  of  procedure  for  the  Board  of  Conciliation  estab- 
lished between  the  Owners  of  Blast  Furnaces  in  Scotland 
and  the  Scottish  Blast  Furnacemen  :  — 

Schedule  of  Wages.  (1)  Wages  to  August  1,  1900  :  — 
The  present  rate  of  furnacemen's  wages  shall  be  increased 
by  5  per  cent,  on  the  basis  rates  as  from  May  1,  1900,  and 
the  wage  so  fixed  shall  remain  in  force  until  August  1, 1900. 

(2)  Sliding  scale  to  regulate  wages  :  —  Thereafter,  and 
until  August  1,  1901,  wages  shall  be  regulated  by  the  aver- 
age selling  price  of  Scotch  pig-iron  warrants  in  the  Glas- 
gow market,  and  shall  rise  or  fall  5  per  cent,  on  the  basis 
rates  for  every  4s.  6fZ.  of  rise  or  fall  in  the  price  of  pig-iron 
as  above,  the  wage  fixed  in  article  No.  1  hereof  being  under- 
stood to  be  the  wage  applicable  to  a  selling  price  of  Scotch 
pig-iron  warrants  over  75s.  8(i.,  and  not  over  80s.  2d.  per 
ton,  but  in  no  case  shall  the  wages  so  fixed  fall  below  a 
point  15  per  cent,  over  the  basis  rates  ruling  at  January  1, 
1899,  nor  rise  above  a  point  10  per  cent,  on  basis  rates  over 
the  wage  fixed  in  article  No.  1  hereof,  and  the  laboring 
wage  shall  not  fall  below  3s.  per  shift  for  efiicient  furnace- 
men. 

(3)  Ascertainment  of  Average  Selling  Price :  — The  aver- 
age selling  price  of  Scotch  pig-iron  warrants  shall  be  ascer- 
tained by  two  accountants  chosen  one  by  either  party,  or 
by  one  accountant  chosen  mutually,  and  shall  be  struck  every 
three  months,  the  ascertained  price  for  each  three  months 
to  regulate  the  wages  for  the  succeeding  three  months. 
The  daily  average  shall  be  the  mean  of  the  highest  and 
the  lowest  price  paid  for  the  day,  and  the  three  months' 
average  shall  be  the  average  of  the  total  daily  averages 
for  the  three  months. 


142  THE  SLIDING  SCALE 

Professor  Ashley  also  presents  the  full  table  of 
wages  for  all  classes  of  blast-furnace  men  eniplo3"ed  by 
the  Cleveland  Iron  Masters  Association  in  force  from 
December  31,  1897.  The  sliding  scale  was  introduced 
in  the  Cleveland  District  in  1879,  and  included  the 
miners  as  well;  but  the  miners  withdrew  from  it  in 
June,  1889.  One  version  given  was  that  it  "  hurt  the 
Union."  "  The  scale  being  signed  for  two  years,  there 
seemed  no  call  to  pay  any  more  into  the  Union."  The 
prosperity  of  the  sliding  scale  in  the  iron  industry 
of  England  is  doubtless  due  in  no  small  degree  to 
the  comparatively  large  power  which  the  masters  have 
of  regulating  prices  in  accordance  with  cost  of  produc- 
tion. 

On  the  basis  of  this  mingled  experience  of  success 
and  failure,  Professor  Ashley  criticises  the  sliding 
scale  from  the  standpoint  of  theory  and  from  that 
of  practice  also.^  He  concludes  that  boards  of  concil- 
iation and  arbitration,  as  they  are  very  successfully 
functioning  in  England  to-day,  represent  a  higher 
stage  of  development  than  does  the  sliding-scale  sys- 
tem. The  question  in  debate  between  Mr.  L.  L.  Price 
and  Professor  Ashley  (see  a  review  of  "  The  Adjust- 
ment of  Wages  "  in  the  "  Economic  Journal "  for  Sep- 
tember, 1903,  pp.  386-391)  does  not  concern  the  value 
of  the  sliding  scale  in  the  past,  for  this  is  admitted 
on  all  sides  to  have  been  great,  but  its  value  to-day  by 
the  side  of  the  joint  agreement,  renewed  usually  every 
year,  wdtli  its  terms  modified  or  unaltered,  as  the  case 
may  be.  Ordinary  collective  bargaining  settles  upon 
a  scale  of  wages  for  a  term  of  months  or  years,  and  no 
change  is  allowed  before  the  time  expires.    The  sliding- 

^  The  Adjustment  of  Wages,  pp.  87  f .  and  54  f . 


THE  SLIDING  SCALE  143 

scale  system,  on  the  contrary,  provides  that  durmg  a 
set  term,  usually  longer  than  that  set  for  a  fixed  scale, 
wages  may  be  frequently  changed  according  to  the 
variations  of  the  price  of  the  product.  Mr.  Price  pre- 
fers this  automatic  readjustment,  at  comparatively 
frequent  intervals,  to  the  more  troublesome  and  less 
frequent  changes  made  by  fresh  collective  bargaining. 
It  woidd  seem,  however,  that  some  of  the  objections 
made  to  the  sliding  scale,  pure  and  simple,  have  been 
accepted  in  practice  as  well  made,  and  the  scales  have 
often  been  modified  to  conform  to  principles  quite 
other  than  the  single  rule  that  wages  should  follow 
prices.  The  miners  who  objected  to  the  sliding  scale 
in  bad  times,  that  "  it  always  slides  the  wrong  way," 
and  that  "  there  is  no  bottom  to  the  confounded  thing," 
embodied  in  these  few  words  the  theory  of  the  "  mini- 
mum wage  "  which  has  been  generally  accepted  in  the 
more  recent  scales.  The  trade-unions  have  felt  that  no 
scale  of  prices  shoidd  be  considered  to  justify  a  rate 
of  wages  below  that  requisite  to  mamtain  a  decent 
standard  of  comfort  for  the  workman.  They  have 
preferred  to  see  mills  working  only  half  time  at  good 
wages,  or  altogether  shut  down,  rather  than  to  see  the 
manufacturer  take  the  dangerous  liberty  of  marking 
down  wages  below  such  a  minimum  because  prices 
were  extremely  depressed.  That  this  is  good  policy  one 
may  easily  allow.  The  principle  of  a  minimum  wage 
has  thus  been  grafted  upon  the  sliding-scale  system, 
and  scales  are  not  now  drawn  up  on  the  basis  of 
prices  alone.  The  workman  who  has  complained  that 
the  sliding  scale  always  slides  the  wrong  way  for  him 
now  finds  its  descent  arrested  at  a  certain  point  by 
a  wage  which  alters  not  for  any  later  fall  in  prices. 


144  THE  SLIDING  SCALE 

The  minimuui  wage  is  a  very  essential  modification  of 
the  j)ure  sliding  scale.  Another  important  change  is 
introduced  when  the  employer  insists  that  the  state  of 
the  labor  market  shall  also  be  taken  into  consideration. 
This  claim  has  frequently  been  conceded,  but  the  con- 
cession greatly  weakens  the  case  for  the  sliding  scale 
as  an  automatic  regulator  of  wages.  Other  conces- 
sions are  here  and  there  demanded  and  granted,  and 
they  all  point  to  the  superiority  of  a  free  collective 
bargain  made,  say,  once  a  year,  over  a  sliding  scale 
running  on  for  a  considerable  length  of  time. 

Professor  S.  J.  Chapman,  in  the  "  Economic  Jour- 
nal "  for  June,  1903,  has  briefly  contrasted  "  the  facts 
of  some  ten  to  twenty  years  ago  with  the  facts  of  to- 
day "  in  regard  to  the  use  of  the  sliding  scale.  "  At 
some  time  prior  to  1888  almost  all  the  colliers  of 
England,  Wales,  and  Scotland  were  working  under 
sliding  scales,  and  in  addition  a  great  many  of  the 
iron  miners,  blast-furnace  men,  and  iron  and  steel 
workers.  Now  the  last  sliding  scale  in  the  coal  trade, 
that  of  South  Wales,  has  just  been  repudiated  ;  in 
iron  mining  in  1900  only  one  firm  was  using  the  slid- 
ing-scale,  and  in  lime  quarrying  only  one  firm.  In 
the  manufacture  of  pig  iron  and  m  the  iron  and  steel 
industries  it  is  true  that  the  numbers  paid  by  sliding- 
scales  are  considerable  ;  but  there  the  list  ends.  .  .  . 
On  the  Continent  sliding  scales  never  took  even  tem- 
porary root,  and  in  the  United  States,  while  they  are 
said  to  work  satisfactorily  in  the  iron  and  steel  trades, 
they  have  met  with  little  success  in  any  other  field." 
He  then  goes  on  to  point  out  "  some  theoretical  objec- 
tions to  sliding  scales,"  which  he  is  far  from  claiming 
dispose  of  the  system  in  practice,  while  the  reaction 


THE  SLIDING  SCALE  145 

against  it  "  may  be  partly  due  to  an  undefined  recog- 
nition of  tliese  defects." 

Granting  that  wages  should  vary  as  "  normal  pro- 
fits "  vary,  the  sliding  scale  regulates  a  period  to  come 
by  a  period  that  has  past,  although  other  reasons  than 
these  profits  may  be  plain  for  variations  in  the  demand 
for  labor.  No  scale  lasts  for  a  long  time.  "  When  the 
scale  is  drawn  up,  admittedly  bargaining  takes  place. 
There  is  no  gTou^  of  indisi^utable  premises  on  earth 
from  which  the  ratio  which  wages  should  bear  to  vari- 
ous rates  of  profit  in  different  businesses  could  be  de- 
duced. What  settles  the  ratios  is  bargaining  ;  what 
settles  the  forces  at  work  in  bargaining  is  the  relative 
strengths  of  masters  and  men  (which  are  variable),  the 
state  of  trade  at  the  time  and  in  the  past,  and  the  ex- 
pected state  of  trade  in  the  future  (again  variables)." 
"  Incessant  revisions  of  the  scales  "  are  to  be  expected 
as  these  circumstances  change.  "  If  sliding  scales  of  a 
satisfactory  character  can  be  constructed,  they  must  be 
definitely  recognized  as  merely  tempoi'ary  agi'eements. 
They  do  not  take  the  place  of  bargains,  but  merely 
mean  that  a  heap  of  bargains  is  made  at  once."  The 
question,  "  How  shall  profits  be  measured  ?  "  presents 
difficulties  not  always  easily  disposed  of ;  so  does  the 
matter  of  long  contracts  for  future  dehvery,  made  by 
the  masters  when  prices  are  low.  This  is  a  common 
practice,  and  it  is  very  useful  in  steadying  the  trade. 
The  South  Wales  agreement  of  1892  sought  to  remedy 
the  resulting  inequity  for  the  workmen  by  providing  that 
"  any  contract  for  sale  of  coal  for  a  period  of  more  than 
twelve  months  shall  not  be  taken  into  account  for  more 
than  six  successive  audits  of  two  months  each ;  "  but 
this  is  another  departure  from  the  simple  plan  of  regii- 


146  THE  SLIDING  SCALE 

lating  wages  purely  by  prices.  In  regard  to  the  Import- 
ant point  of  the  frequency  with  which  changes  in  wages 
should  be  made,  Professor  Chapman  inclines  to  agree 
with  Professor  SclunoUer  that  a  comparatively  steady 
wage  is  of  much  more  consequence  to  the  worlonan 
than  a  very  variable  one,  which  would,  of  course,  ob- 
serve the  high-profit  periods. ^  The  battle  for  the  liv- 
ing wage  and  the  minimmn  wage  is  noted  by  Professor 
Schmoller  as  a  step  in  this  direction  away  from  sliding 
scales.  Ten  years  earlier  he  had  said  that,  "  It  is 
questionable  whether  the  principle  itself  (implied  in 
sliding  scales)  is  right,  that  wages  should  vary  just  as 
profits." 

No  one  can  deny  that  sliding  scales  have  done  much 
good,  for  they  have  brought  .about  conditions  of  peace 
in  industries  where  strife  and  turnioil  had  previously 
prevailed.  "  Though  theoretically  indefensible  in  a 
large  degree,"  says  Professor  Chapman,  "  the  sliding 
scale  succeeded  where  other  plans  had  failed.  Bargain- 
ing, particularly  in  matters  of  wages,  without  quarrel- 
ing, implies  a  higher  degree  of  civilization  than  we  are 
wont  to  suppose.  ...  It  was  better,  then,  to  guess  be- 
fore the  event  and  to  agree  to  pay,  whatever  happened, 
what  would  probably  be  unsuitable  wages,  than  to  try 
to  arrive  at  suitable  wages  through  the  extravagant 
contending  claims  put  forward  by  heated  disputants 
not  only  at  the  '  natural '  times  for  redistribution,  but 
at  inconvenient  times  which  recurred  with  inconve- 
nient frequency.  And  the  sliding  scales  had  the  merit 
of  emphasizing  the  right  principle  of  distribution  in 
the  rough."  ^ 

1  Bie  historische  Lohnbewegung  von  1300-1900  und  il.re  Ursachen 
von  G.  Schmoller,  1902. 

2  The  importance  of  this  qualification,  "  in  the  rong'h,"  will  appear, 


THE  SLIDING  SCALE  147 

Without  abating,  then,  the  praise  due  to  the  sliding 
scale,  it  seems,  on  the^Avhole,  that  its  imperfections  in 
theory  should  be  frankly  conceded,  and  that  the  effort 
shoidd  be  made,  if  it  is  given  up,  to  retain  and  develop 
the  feature  of  collective  bargaining  which  has  been  the 
backbone  of  advantage  in  the  system.  For  myself,  I 
regard  it  as  a  real  advance  when  the  practice  of  making 
joint  agreements  at  fixed  intervals  (not  less  than  six 
months  apart)  takes  the  place  of  a  sliding  scale,  ar- 
ranged for  a  number  of  years  in  advance,  and  calling 
for  changes  in  the  wages  every  two  or  three  months. 
Mr.  Price,  in  his  review  of  Professor  Ashley's  "  Ad- 
justment of  Wages,"  stands  by  the  sliding  scale  as 
superior  to  the  board  of  conciliation  and  arbitration, 
and  thinks  that  "  it  may  prove  eventually  to  have  been 
a  step  backwards  and  not  an  advance  forwards,  to 
have  substituted  the  human  mechanism  of  a  concilia-, 
tion  board  for  the  comparative  automatism  of  a  sliding 
scale."  I  must  agree,  however,  with  Professors  Ashley 
and  Chapman,  as  well  as  with  Mr.  Garland,  that  the 
important  point  is  gained  when  both  parties  are  will- 
ing to  come  together  and  try  honestly  and  strenuously 
to  make  an  agreement.  "  After  all,"  says  Mr.  Garland, 
"  it  is  the  getting  together  of  employer  and  employee 

for  instance,  in  the  case  described  by  Mr.  M.  M.  Garland,  formerly 
president  of  the  Amalgamated  Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Work- 
ers, in  his  evidence  before  the  Industrial  Commission  in  1901.  '"The 
discovery  of  the  great  steel  ore  mines  in  the  Masaba  and  other  ranges 
of  mountains  in  the  Northwest  has  had  a  very  decided  effect  in  re- 
ducing the  price  of  both  steel  and  iron.  .  .  .  These  new  mines  were 
easily  operated,  and  created  an  abundance  of  ore  in  market.  .  .  .  This 
enabled  the  manufacturers  to  .  .  .  retain  their  former  margin,  or 
even  a  greater  margin,  as  it  suited  them.  .  .  .  The  sliding  scale,  by 
reason  of  the  cheapening  of  the  article,  would  of  necessity  reduce 
wages  to  the  minimum  established." 


148  THE  SLIDING  SCALE 

with  fair  intentions  that  cultivates  reason  on  both 
sides."  That  boards  of  conciliation  will  do  well  to 
adopt  "  explicitly  or  implicitly,  some  similar  guiding 
principle,"  as  Mr.  Price  goes  on  to  say,  is  an  easy 
inference  from  the  undoubted  success  of  the  sliding 
scale  while  it  lasted.  This  former  guiding  principle  is 
not  now  accepted  by  masters  or  men  without  question, 
as  supreme.  If  we  accept  all  the  qualifications  which 
Mr.  Price  grants  in  his  argument  for  sHding  scales,  — 
concerning  the  need  of  revision,  maximum  and  minimum 
wages,  the  unfitness  of  sliding  scales  for  industries  not 
resembling  coal  mining  or  iron  manufacturing,  the  dif- 
ficulty of  operating  them  even  in  industries  to  which 
they  are  adapted,  and  their  liability  to  breed  discon- 
tent as  "  unfair,"  —  it  would  seem  time  to  absorb  this 
method  into  the  larger  method  of  collective  bargain- 
ing. If  both  parties  are  reasonable  enough  to  agree 
upon  so  difficult  a  matter,  comparatively  speaking,  as  a 
complicated  sliding  scale,  they  should  a  fortiori  be  able 
to  construct  a  joint  agreement  which  can  be  worked  by 
a  conciliation  and  arbitration  board.  The  sliding  scale 
has,  in  fact,  needed  a  good  deal  of  assistance  from  con- 
ciliation methods.  Such  methods  have  been  developed 
in  a  large  and  admirable  degree  in  England.  Before 
considering  them  in  detail,  however,  it  wiU  be  desirable 
to  deal  with  a  matter  that  affects  all  collective  bargain- 
ing, —  the  incorporation  of  trade-unions  as  well  as  of 
employers'  associations. ^ 

^  To  the  volumes  and  articles  mentioned  in  the  course  of  this  chap- 
ter, there  needs  only  to  be  added,  in  the  way  of  bibliography,  Mr.  J. 
Stephen  Jeans'  little  book.  Conciliation  and  Arbitration  in  Labour 
Disputes  (London,  1894),  chs.  vii.-xiv.  and  Appendix  I. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE    INCORPORATION    OF   INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS 

Inside  the  limits  of  that  great  involuntary  association 
known  as  human  society,  the  trade-union  belongs  among 
the  voluntary  associations  which  the  law  implicitly  or 
explicitly  permits  to  exist.i  It  is  not  an  illegal  asso- 
ciation in  modern  civilized  countries.  It  resembles 
other  associations  which  are  formed,  not  for  the  sake 
of  carrying  on  a  business  with  capital  stock  and  for 
profit,  but  for  mutual  aid  or  instruction  or  social  recre- 
ation. Such  are  the  Odd  Fellows,  the  Free  Masons, 
friendly  societies,  Browning  societies,  athletic  clubs, 
and  the  like.  Modern  countries  exhibit  an  astonish- 
ing number  and  variety  of  such  combinations,  and 
the  most  civilized  society  shows  the  largest  number 
and  the  greatest  variety  of  these  voluntary  associar 
tions  for  purposes  of  mutual  aid  or  culture. 

Formerly  the  general  corporation  acts  did  not  men- 
tion trade-unions  as  bodies  which  were  permitted  to 
change  their  status  from  voluntary  associations  with 
liability  in  severalty  to  corporations  with  limited  lia- 
bility. More  recent  statutes  in  many  States  (for  in- 
stance, New  York,  Massachusetts,  Maryland,  Michigan, 
and  Iowa)  have  remedied  this  defect  and  have  expressly 
included  ti'ade-unions  among  associations  which  may  be 
incorporated,  and  thus  partially  relieve  the  individual 

1  "  Industrial  union  "  is  a  convenient  term  to  include  both  the  trade- 
union  and  the  employers'  association. 


150    INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS 

member  from  responsibility  for  the  actions  of  the  body  A 
A  United  States  law  of  1886  allows  the  incorporation 
of  national  trade-unions,  "  provided  they  have  two  or 
more  branches  in  the  several  States,  with  headquarters 
located  in  the  District  of  Colimibia."  The  State  stat- 
utes just  mentioned  also  allow  the  incorporation  of  the 
Knights  of  Labor,  and  their  building  societies,  the 
Farmers  Alliance,  or  Grangers,  and  workingraen's  aid 
societies.^ 

Trade-unions,  like  other  associations,  may  enforce 

1  Handbook  to  the  Labor  Law  of  the  United  States,  by  F.  J.  Stimson, 
pp.  168,  169. 

2  It  may  be  well  here  to  give  one  of  the  standard  definitions  of 
the  corporation  :  "  A  corporation,  or  a  body  politic,  or  body  incorpo- 
rate, is  a  collection  of  niany  individuals  united  in  one  body  under  a 
special  denomination,  having  perpetual  succession  under  an  artificial 
form  and  vested  by  the  policy  of  the  law  with  the  capacity  of  acting 
in  several  respects  as  an  individual,  particularly  of  taking-  and  grant- 
ing property,  of  contracting  obligations,  and  of  suing  and  being  sued  ; 
of  enjoying  privileges  and  immunities  iu  common,  and  of  exercising  a 
variety  of  political  rights,  more  or  less  extensive,  according  to  the  de- 
sign of  its  institution,  or  the  powers  conferred  upon  it,  either  at  the 
time  of  its  creation  or  at  any  subsequent  period  of  its  existence." 
(Kyd  on  Corporations,  13:  A.  D.  1793.)  Chief  Justice  Marshall's  classic 
statement  of  the  nature  of  a  corporation  lays  equal  stress  upon  the 
limitation  of  its  powers  and  upon  its  earthly  immortality  :  "  A  corpora- 
tion is  an  artificial  being,  invisible,  intangible,  and  existing  only  in  con- 
templation of  law.  Being  the  mere  creature  of  law,  it  possesses  only 
those  properties  which  the  charter  of  its  creation  confers  upon  it, 
either  expressly  or  as  incidental  to  its  very  existence.  These  are  such 
iis  are  supposed  best  calculated  to  effect  the  object  for  which  it  was 
created.  Among  the  most  important  are  immortality  and,  if  the  expres- 
sion may  be  allowed,  individuality :  properties  by  which  a  perpetual 
succession  of  many  persons  are  considered  as  the  same,  and  may  act  as 
a  single  individual.  ...  It  is  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  clothing  bodies 
of  men  in  succession  with  these  qualities  and  capacities  that  corpora- 
tions were  invented  and  are  in  use.  By  these  means  a  perpetual  suc- 
cession of  individuals  are  capable  of  acting  for  the  promotion  of  the 
particular  object  like  one  immortal  being."  (Marshall,  C.  J.,  in  Dart- 
mouth College  V.  Woodward,  4  Wheat.  636.) 


INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS    151 

all  the  provisions  of  their  by-laws  against  their  mem- 
bers, collecting  fines  from  them  and  expelling  them  if 
contumacious.  On  their  side,  expelled  members  have 
the  usual  legal  rights  against  unions  for  any  abuse  of 
their  functions.  A  member  wrongly  expelled  can  obtain 
a  writ  of  mandamus  for  reinstatement ;  if  he  has  suf- 
fered any  loss,  by  reason  of  expulsion,  he  may  recover 
damages. 

American  law  thus  permits  the  incorporation  of 
trade-unions,  but  neither  State  nor  Federal  law  de- 
mands that  the  trade-union  be  incorporated  in  order 
to  obtain  legal  existence,  any  more  than  in  the  case  of 
the  Odd  Fellows  or  a  base-ball  club.  It  is  a  case  of 
"  may,"  not  of  "  shall,"  of  permission,  not  of  compul- 
sion, and  this  is  substantially  the  law  in  other  civilized 
countries  to-day.  When  we  inquire  to  what  extent 
American  trade-unions  avail  themselves  of  this  privilege, 
we  obtain  apparently  contradictory  answers.  Mr.  J.  L. 
Kennedy,  of  the  recent  United  States  Industrial  Com- 
mission, represents  the  usual  belief  when  he  says  (Re- 
port, vol.  vii.  p.  803)  :  "  Our  information  has  been 
that  there  is  practically  no  incorporation  of  unions  any- 
where in  the  United  States."  Mr.  John  McMackin,  the 
present  Commissioner  of  Labor  of  the  State  of  New 
York  (the  witness  then  under  examination),  had 
stated  that  "  the  great  majority  of  the  trade-unions  in 
New  York  State  are  incorporated  now :  in  fact,  they 
are  nearly  all  incorporated  on  account  of  their  benevo- 
lent character."  He  afterward  submitted,  as  part  of 
his  testimony,  "  a  list  of  the  labor  organizations  which 
had  filed  certificates  of  incorporation  in  the  office  of  the 
Secretary  of  State  of  the  State  of  New  York,  princi- 
pally under  chapter  875,  Laws  of  1871,  and  the  mem- 


152    INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS 

bership corporations  law  (cliapter  559,  Laws  of  1895)," 
between  1871  and  1900.  But,  as  the  compiler  of  the 
digest  prefixed  to  volume  vii.  of  the  Report  points  out, 
this  list  presents  only  "about  300  out  of  about  1,600 
unions  existing  in  the  State," — less  than  one  fifth,  in- 
stead of  "  the  great  majority  "  asserted  by  Mr.  Mc- 
Mackin.  The  United  States  Commissioner  of  Labor 
testified  that  he  did  not  know  "  of  a  single  instance  in 
this  country  where  a  labor  organization  has  been  incor- 
porated under  either  State  or  federal  laws  "  (Report 
of  Testimony,  vol,  vii.  p.  6).  Mr.  John  Kunzler,  presi- 
dent of  the  Flint  Glass  Workers  Union,  says  that 
none  of  the  unions  of  this  craft  are  incorporated  (p. 
938).  Mr.  J.  S.  Kelley,  president  of  the  United  Asso- 
ciation of  Journeymen  Plumbers,  Gas  Fitters  etc.,  on 
the  other  hand,  believes  that  "  the  majority  of  the  local 
unions  [of  plumbers,  etc.]  are  incorporated  in  their 
States,"  while  declaring  that  there  are,  to  his  know- 
ledge, such  unions  incorporated  in  Illinois,  New  York, 
and  New  Jersey  (p.  974). 

This  conflict  of  testimony  is  apparently  resolved  by 
the  question  asked  of  Labor  Commissioner  Wright  by 
Senator  Mallory  (p.  6),  and  his  answer:  "  Are  there 
not  State  laws  authorizing  the  incorporation  of  benevo- 
lent associations  under  which  trade-miions  have  organ- 
ized ?  —  There  are  such  laws,  and  purely  benevolent  so- 
cieties, which  grow  out  of  the  parent  organization,  have, 
in  some  instances,  incorporated  under  these  laws."  On 
consulting  the  laws  of  New  York,  mentioned  in  the 
heading  of  Mr.  McMackin's  list,  we  find  that  these  three 
hundred  trade-unions  have  incorporated  simply  as  be- 
nevolent associations,  or  "  friendly  societies,"  to  use 
the  English  term,  or,  to  use  the  New  York  term,  as 


INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS    153 

"  membership  corporations."  "  A  membership  corpora- 
tion may  be  created  under  this  article  for  any  lawful 
purpose."  American  trade-unions,  we  may,  therefore, 
confidently  state,  are  not  incorporated  bodies  in  the 
ordinary,  accepted  sense  of  the  term. 

As  the  trade-unions  have  legal  power  to  incorporate 
fully,  if  they  so  desire,  the  inquiry  is  pertinent,  Why 
do  they  not  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity  ?  Let 
us  listen  to  some  of  the  witnesses  before  the  Industrial 
Commission.^  The  statement  made  by  Mr.  H.  F.  Gar- 
rett, president  of  the  State  Federation  of  Labor,  At- 
lanta, Ga.,  is  brief,  and  covers  substantially  the  gTOund 
taken  by  other  trade-unionists  who  are  opposed  to  in- 
corporation. "  By  the  advice  of  an  attorney,  we  did  not 
apply  for  a  charter.  —  Why  ?  Because  you  did  not 
wish  to  incur  the  responsibilities  that  a  charter  woidd 
bring  into  it  [the  union]  ?  —  Yes."  ^ 

Desire  to  avoid  responsibility  for  their  actions,  in 
one  direction  or  another,  is  stated  by  other  witnesses 
before  the  Industrial  Commission  to  be  the  chief  reason 
why  the  unions  refrain  from  incorporation.  The  par- 
ticular responsibility  to  be  avoided  is  variously  put  by 
them.  Mr.  M.  M.  Garland,  formerly  president  of  the 
Amalgamated  Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Workers 
of  America,  declares  that  the  "question  has  been 
brought  up  a  number  of  times,  and  our  organization  is 
rather  opposed  to  it.  .  .  .  Perhaps  the  greatest  reason 
is  that  we  extend  over  a  number  of  States,  making  in- 
corporation a  little  difficult  in  that  respect ;  and  then, 

^  The  statements  made  by  the  various  witnesses  before  the  Indus- 
trial Commission  seem  to  present  this  matter  of  incorporation  in  a 
more  interesting  manner  than  the  trade-union  literature  does. 

2  Report,  vol.  vii.  p.  548. 


154    INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS 

at  times,  irresponsible  persons  become  members,  and 
our  organizations  would  be  resjionsible,  if  we  were  in- 
corporated, for  actions  of  men  whose  character  we  do 
not  know  when  they  come  in."  These  two  objections 
obviously  have  little  weight :  trade-unions  are  not 
usually  appalled  by  things  "  a  little  difficult,"  and  the 
natural  method  of  dealing  with  irresponsible  members 
of  an  organization  is  to  expel  them.  Mr.  Garland  does 
not  regard  incorporation  as  feasible,  or  see  any  bene- 
fits in  it,  so  far  as  "  our  end  is  concerned  "  (p.  85  of 
Testimony,  Report,  vol.  vii.).  Mr.  J.  W.  Bridwell, 
secretary  of  the  Atlanta  Federation  of  Trades,  takes 
us  a  step  further,  in  speaking  for  the  Georgia  unions  : 
"  We  can  get  along  better  without  being  incorporated  ; 
we  take  that  for  granted  the  same  as  the  national 
trades  [organizations]  :  they  have  studied  the  legal 
effect  of  not  being  incorporated ;  we  follow  suit." 
"  Q.  Your  purpose  is  to  escape  certain  liabilities  that 
corporations  are  subject  to  under  the  law?  A.  That 
is  the  idea.  —  Q.  How  do  you  expect  to  sue  and  be 
sued,  or  do  you  want  anything  of  that  kind  ?  A.  It  is 
pever  necessary  for  us  to  sue.  —  Q.  Suppose,  through 
the  carelessness  of  your  operators,  one  of  your  men 
shoidd  get  killed  and  another  one  hurt :  what  recourse 
have  they  ?  A.  They  have  recourse  as  individuals.  — 
Q.  Therefore  he  is  not  benefited  by  the  organization 
in  that  particular  ?  A.  No.  —  Q.  He  can  go  to  the 
common  law  and  sue  for  damages  ?  A.  Yes. —  Q.  You 
cannot  go  to  the  courts  of  Georgia  to  enforce  a  con- 
tract as  an  organization,  because  you  are  not  incor- 
porated? A.  Cannot  through  the  courts,  but  can 
enforce  a  contract  through  means  of  a  strike  "  (vol. 
vii.  p.  237). 


INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS   155 

Mr.  A.  Strasser,  an  ex-president  of  the  Cigar 
Makers  International  Union,  agrees  with  Mr.  Bricl- 
well  that  "  there  is  no  advantage  permanently  "  to  the 
unions  in  incorporation.  "  I  do  not  see  any  necessity 
of  incorporating  them.  ...  It  would  not  give  them 
any  more  standing  in  most  of  the  States.  It  could  not 
give  any  more  legal  standing  in  the  State  of  New 
York  than  they  have  now,  and  it  would  make  them 
liable  to  a  number  of  law-suits,  and  they  cannot  be 
now.  I  have  consulted  with  some  of  the  best  lawyers 
in  the  State  of  New  York,  and  they  have  advised 
against  incorporation"  (vol.  vii.  p.  261).  "If  incor- 
porated, there  would  be  great  danger  that  the  funds  of 
the  organization  could  be  attached  by  some  malicious 
employers,  and  they  could  sue  them  for  damages,  and 
keep  their  funds  continuously  in  danger  by  continued 
litigation,  which  would  undoubtedly  be  detrimental. 
I  speak  from  the  advice  of  some  of  the  best  lawyers  of 
the  State  of  New  York.  I  used  to  believe  in  incorpo- 
ration, but  I  have  changed  my  mind"  (p.  262).  Mr. 
Strasser  showed  the  very  common  prejudice  of  the 
unionists  against  the  courts  in  his  reply  to  the  next 
question  asked :  "  The  act  of  incorporation  means 
that  those  who  are  not  justly  dealt  with  according  to 
that  act  of  incorporation  have  redress  in  law.  Now,  if 
we  are  observers  of  law  in  all  cases,  why  do  we  fear 
incorporation  ?  "  He  answered  :  "  As  the  judiciary  is 
now  constituted,  with  life  tenure,  largely  selected  from 
attorneys  of  corporations  and  other  large,  wealthy  in- 
stitutions, the  natural  inclinations  are  against  labor, 
and  the  working  people  would  get  the  worst  of  a  bat- 
tle, and  for  that  reason  it  is  against  their  interests  to 
be  incorporated  for  the  present.    I  do  not  say  what  it 


156    INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL    UNIONS 

will  be  fifty  years  from  now.  At  the  present  time  I 
would  advise  no  trade-union  to  incorporate,  because 
they  cannot  expect  justice  at  the  hands  of  the  courts. 
,  .  .  The  general  public  does  not  yet  recognize  the 
utility  of  the  unions,  especially  the  bench.  .  .  .  We 
somewhat  hesitate  to  hand  our  funds  over  to  these 
powers.  .  .  ,  When  a  judge  is  against  you  by  edu- 
cation or  surroundings,  he  will  always  find  a  rea- 
son and  argument  to  confirm  him  in  his  decision" 
(p.  262). 

Mr.  S.  B.  Donnelly,  the  president  of  the  Internar 
tional  Typographical  Union,  sides  with  Mr.  Strasser 
in  his  unfavorable  view  of  the  probability  of  obtaining 
justice  for  trade-unions,  if  incorporated.  "  I  am  not 
in  favor  of  the  incorporation  of  trade-unions  under 
the  present  conditions.  When  the  State  or  national 
governments  of  this  country  encourage  trade-unionism, 
and  legally  consider  an  organization  of  mechanics, 
farmers,  or  any  craft,  trade,  or  occupation,  formed  for 
the  purpose  of  improving  the  social  and  industrial 
conditions,  beneficial  to  the  communities  and  for  the 
benefit  of  the  country,  and  consider  them  as  legitimate 
organizations  and  encourage  them,  then  incorporation 
will  be  possible.  But  under  present  conditions,  with, 
in  some  States,  trade-unionism  looked  upon  as  a  form 
of  outlawry,  the  incorporation  of  trade-unions  would 
only  result  in  disaster  to  the  organizations.  The  laws 
of  the  States  governing  incorporated  bodies  are  such 
that  the  power  and  influence  of  '  captains  of  industry,' 
as  they  term  themselves,  and  commercial  interests, 
would  simply  place  us  at  the  mercy  of  the  employers, 
from  the  fact  that  they  could  instantly,  with  what  is 
known  as  the  injunction,  tie  up  our  funds,  and  we 


INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS    157 

would  be  helpless  without  money."  Mr.  Donnelly's  ob- 
jection to  incorporation  was  clue,  he  continued,  not  to 
"  the  fear  of  any  conditions  that  trade-unions  would 
be  subjected  to  under  the  law  ;  it  is  the  fear  of  the 
power  and  influence  of  capital  at  the  present  time  to 
manipulate,  use,  and  control  for  their  advantage,  not 
only  legislative  bodies,  but  supposed  courts  of  justice. 
I  do  not  say  that  capital  is  at  the  present  time,  or  has 
been,  engaged  in  a  wholesale  system  of  bribery  or  pur- 
chase of  lawmakers  and  pubUc  officials,  but  there  is 
a  sort  of  interest  that  I  believe  the  banking  system 
of  this  country  is  at  the  bottom  of,  that  appears  to 
be  all-controlling  and  extensive,  and  permeates  every 
nook  and  cranny  of  the  United  States.  Not  only 
must  legislatures  move  as  it  directs,  but  courts  must 
do  the  same."  When  asked  if,  "  within  the  last 
twenty  years  the  manifest  power  of  the  trade-unions, 
the  fairness  of  their  constitutions  and  their  rules,  and 
their  system  of  conciliation,  mediation,  and  arbitration 
of  disputes  "  had  not,  in  his  opinion,  "  modified  greatly 
the  decisions  of  the  courts,"  Mr.  Donnelly  gets  off 
from  the  track  of  a  direct  answer,  and  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  child  labor  in  Georgia  (Report,  vol.  vii.  pp. 
279,  280).  In  reply  to  a  later  question,  he  grants  that 
the  existence  of  laws  authorizing  the  incorporation  of 
unions  is  "  a  legal  recognition  of  their  desirability  as 
organizations,"  so  far  as  "  certain  features  "  are  con- 
cerned, perhaps  (p.  283). 

Mr.  J.  G.  Schonfarber,  the  representative  of  the 
Knights  of  Labor  before  the  Industrial  Commission, 
testifies  that  this  once  famous  organization  has  taken 
no  action  as  a  national  body  with  respect  to  the  incor- 
poration of  trade-unions.     "  In  certain  localities  our 


158    INCORPORATION   OF  INDUSTRIAL    UNIONS 

district  and  locals  have,  in  a  number  of  cases,  become 
incorporated.!  The  general  officers,  so  far  as  I  know, 
with  myself,  have  disagreed  as  to  the  effect  of  incor- 
porating. We  rather  believe  that  it  would  be  wiser 
not  to  incorporate  than  it  would  be  to  incorporate.  The 
conditions  of  the  law  with  reference  to  labor  and  capi- 
tal are  not  such  as  to  encourage  a  labor  organization 
to  incorporate,  in  my  judgment.  .  .  .  The  technicality 
of  the  law,  and  the  facility  with  which  money  can  util- 
ize the  law,  have  proven  detrimental  to  the  interests 
of  the  laboring  classes.  That  has  been  brought  out  in 
numerous  cases  of  the  use  of  the  injunction.  ...  If 
an  organization  was  incorporated,  and  had  any  funds, 
it  could  be  easily  attached.  And  the  shifting  character 
of  the  officials  of  labor  organizations,  the  fact  that 
they  change  every  six  months  or  a  year,  makes  it  unde- 
sirable to  incorporate  bodies,  in  my  judgment."  (Re- 
port, vol.  y\\.  p.  430.) 

Mr.  Samuel  Gompers,  president  of  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor,  states  to  the  Commission  that  in 
the  first  years  of  his  connection  with  the  labor  move- 
ment, he  was  in  favor  of  the  incorporation  of  the  trade- 
unions,  but  "  I  have  not  advocated  that  for  a  number 
of  years."  The  reason  he  gives  is  his  fear  "  that  the 
time  may  come  when  there  will  be  a  disposition  on  the 
part  of  those  who  are  antagonistic  to  the  interests  of 
the  workers  to  midct  tlie  treasuries  of  the  trade-unions 
and  destroy  much  of  that  which  has  been  built  up  by 
the  workingmen  in  the  trade-unions.  .  .  .  Q.  You  do 
not  believe,  then,  in  the  pecuniary  liability  of  trade- 
unions  on  any  contracts  for  labor  ?    A.  \  am  not  in  fa- 

^  Probably  the  same  thing  is  intended  here  as  by  Mr.  McMackin  in 
the  case  of  the  New  York  unions. 


INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS    159 

vor  of  such  a  proposition.  I  should  want  that  the  funds 
of  a  trade-union  shoukl  be  absohitely  safe  from  the  in- 
terference of  the  State.  —  Q.  By  interference  of  the 
State,  do  you  mean  —  Q.  (By  Mr.  Farquhar.)  Judi- 
cial process?  A.  Including  that.  There  has  never  yet 
been  a  very  serious  effort  made  on  that  line,  unless  it 
was  clothed  by  some  judicial  process." 

Asked  what  the  objection  would  be  to  a  union  as- 
suming pecuniary  responsibility  for  its  agreements,  and 
if  the  danger  anticipated  by  him  would  come  from  the 
inability  of  the  union  to  control  its  members,  Mr. 
Gompers  answers  :  "  Not  necessarily  ;  but  there  are  a 
number  of  causes.  .  .  .  There  is  scarcely  an  act  which 
a  union  can  take  but  which,  in  its  very  nature,  by  rea- 
son of  the  large  number  of  members,  is  practically  a 
public  act  of  which  the  employers  are  generally  in- 
formed. On  the  other  hand,  there  is  scarcely  any  act 
that  the  employer  can  perform  or  take  which  is  a 
public  act,  or  of  which  information  can  reach  the 
employees.  Contracts  are  frequently  entered  into  by 
employers  with  representatives  of  organizations.  The 
employer  determines  upon  a  change  of  jjolicy  ;  he  does 
not  announce  a  lockout,  simply  a  reorganization  of  his 
forces ;  .  .  .  practically  a  lockout,  and  the  employees 
have  no  redress.  —  Q.  If  the  labor  union  were  in- 
corporated, and  as  a  corporation  made  contracts  \nth. 
the  employer,  then  it  would  have  redress  for  the  vio- 
lation of  that  contract?  A.  Hardly.  There  is  not  an 
employer  who  cannot  find  some  means  to  overcome 
the  terms  of  a  contract,  more  particuhirly  when  labor 
is  poorly  organized,  and  he  can  get  others  to  take  their 
places."  Mr.  Gompers,  then,  means  to  object  that 
"  the  contract  would  be  binding  on  the  employees,  and 


160    INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS 

tliey  would  be  unable  to  enforce  it  against  the  employer," 
i.  e.,  in  the  courts,  "  to  establish  it  beyond  the  perad- 
venture  of  a  doubt  as  legal  evidence.  Any  one  who 
has  had  long  experience  as  an  employee  will  under- 
stand that.  Having  had  an  experience  of  twenty-six 
years  as  a  factory  operative,  I  know  what  that  means 
from  my  own  observation,  and  I  also  know  that  as 
having  come  under  my  observation  as  one  devoting 
his  efforts  to  the  labor  movement."  In  answer  to  the 
apparently  pertinent  inquiry,  "Is  that  not  precisely 
the  evil  which  the  advocates  of  incorporation  seek  to 
remedy  ?  Is  the  contention  not  made  that,  if  the  trade- 
unions  were  incorporated,  so  that  they  were  legal  bod- 
ies, their  contracts  woidd  have  a  legal  status  in  the 
courts,  would  be  legal  evidence  of  what  was  agreed, 
and  would  be  enforceable?"  Mr.  Gompers  declares 
dogmatically  that  "  the  fact  of  incorporation  of  a  trade- 
union  has  not  added  either  to  its  stability  or  to  its 
ability  to  enforce  the  terms  of  a  contract  with  the 
employer."  As  he  has  just  stated  that  he  does  not 
know  whether  any  trade-union  is  incorporated  under 
the  United  States  law,  while  a  number  of  unions  are 
so  incorporated  under  State  laws,  it  is  evident  that  he 
lies  imder  the  same  misconception  of  incorporation  as 
Mr.  McMackin. 

Pressed  with  a  restatement  of  the  position  that  in- 
corporation must,  in  fact,  give  a  union  legal  status  to 
enforce  its  contracts,  Mr.  Gompers  admits  that  this 
would  be  true,  "  if  the  facts  which  constitute  a  prac- 
tical violation  of  the  terms  of  a  contract  could  be  pre- 
sented as  legal  evidence  in  the  court ;  "  but  he  claims 
that,  "  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  grievances  from  which 
the  organized  workers  suffer  are  not  in  its  specific  viola- 


INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS    161 

tion,  but  by  the  surreptitious  efforts,  by  indirect  means, 
to  overcome  the  terms  of  a  contract  and  practically 
annul  it."  Mr.  Gompers'  attempt  to  illustrate  this 
point  is  not  a  help  toward  understanding  his  position,^ 
but  when  it  is  suggested  that  the  answer  given  by  him 
"  formulates  in  this  way  :  That  the  subject  is  one  which 
cannot  be  covered  by  contract,"  he  declares,  "  it  is,  so 
far  as  that  point  is  concerned."  He  then  goes  on  to 
another  point  which,  again,  is  much  more  plainly 
stated  for  him  by  a  commissioner  than  by  himself : 
"  Under  a  corporation,  and  a  contract  between  the 
corporate  body  and  the  employer,  you  fear  first,  that 
the  contract  could  and  would  be  enforced  against  the 
union  in  the  courts ;  secondly,  that  it  could  not  be  en- 
forced against  the  employer,  because,  if  a  manufactur- 
ing business,  he  is  enabled  to  invent  numberless  devices 
for  evading  it,  so  that  the  courts  could  not  protect 
the  union  against  him."  The  witness  assents,  adding  : 
"  There  would  be  so  many  ways  by  which  he  could 
circumvent  it  himself."  Mr.  Gompers  adds  another 
reason  against  incorporation,  that,  "  in  an  incorporated 
union,  it  would  be  within  the  power  of  a  minority  to 
enjoin  a  union  from  expending  its  funds  even  in  ac- 
cordance with  its  own  laws."  The  effect  of  this  action, 
though  the  injunction  were  only  temporary,  would  be 
disastrous  in  case  of  a  conflict  between  employer  ami 

^  "  As,  for  instance,  determining',  say,  that  for  the  production  of  such 
an  article  a  specific  amount  of  waj^e  shall  be  paid,  and  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  another  article,  precisely  the  same,  and  simply  g'i\'ino-  it  another 
name,  requiring  the  same  amount  of  work  to  be  performed  in  the  pro- 
duction of  the  article,  yet  the  terms  of  the  contract  are  not  violated. 
It  is  simply  called  or  styled  by  the  employer  as  somethinp;  new,  not 
called  for  by  the  contract,  and  in  which  he  insists  that  that  wage  is 
a  fair  one."  I  must  confess  my  inability  to  understand  this  kind  of 
violation  of  the  spirit  of  a  contract. 


162    INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS 

employed,  as  the  funds  would  not  be  available  when 
most  needed.  A  small  minority  could  be  stirred  into 
such  action  by  the  employer,  by  legitimate  or  illegiti- 
mate means.  Mr.  Gompers  affirms  that  the  terms  of  a 
collective  bargain  "  are  generally  observed,  not  because 
of  the  written  agreement  or  contract,  but  because  of 
the  power  of  the  organization,"  and  that  "  the  incor- 
poration of  the  trade-union  wiU  not,  in  my  judgment, 
help  it  one  iota."  He  is  "  quite  convinced  "  that  "  the 
law  cannot  secure  through  incorporation  .  .  .  what 
the  trade-union  cannot  secure  "  (Report,  vol.  vii.  pp. 
600-602). 

Having  heard  the  unionists  who  oppose  incorporation, 
let  us  now  turn  to  those  other  unionists  who  advocate 
it.  It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  the  president  of  the 
Cigar  Makers  International  Union  in  1899,  Mr.  G.  W. 
Perkins,  did  not  agree  with  the  former  president,  Mr. 
Strasser,  on  this  point.  Mr.  Perkins  testified :  "  I  believe 
they  [trade-unions]  should  be  incorporated.  In  the  first 
place,  trade-unions  have  nothing  to  hide ;  they  are  not 
violators  of  the  law,  and  to-day  they  can  be,  and  are, 
brought  into  court  —  it  may  take  a  little  longer  — 
ahnost  as  quickly  as  they  could  be,  and  would  be,  if  they 
were  incorporated.  If  incorporated,  it  would  give  us 
many  advantages ;  for  instance,  any  corporation  has 
the  right  to  go  into  court  and  offer  its  printed  con- 
stitution and  by-laws,  while  an  association  like  ours 
can  only  offer  the  written  minutes ;  that  necessitates 
the  keeping  of  the  written  minutes  of  each  of  our  con- 
ventions ;  we  often  have  the  old  books  carefully  filed 
away  in  the  vaults,  in  case  we  have  to  prove  the  ex- 
istence of  the  international  union.  ...  I  favor  being 
incorporated,  first,  because  it  would  legalize  us  ;  second, 


INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL    UNIONS    163 

give  us  more  standing  before  courts.  We  are  willing  to 
be  brought  into  court  any  minute  "  (Report,  vol.  vii., 
Testimony,  pp.  171,  172).i 

Mr.  T.  J.  Schaffer,  president  of  the  Amalgamated 
Association  of  Iron,  Steel,  and  Tin  Workers,  agrees 
as  little  with  his  predecessor,  Mr.  Garland.  He  hopes 
that  "  the  time  will  come  when  the  Amalgamated  As- 
sociation will  be  able  to  take  out  letters  of  incorpo- 
ration and  become  a  chartered  institution."  Incorpo- 
ration "  would  obviate  the  necessity  for  strikes,  —  do 
away  with  the  strike  entirely,"  by  making  each  side 
responsible  to  the  other  for  any  violation  of  contract 
or  for  any  damage  that  might  be  done.  "  It  would 
bring  the  manufacturer  and  his  employee  closer  to- 
gether, into  more  friendly  relations."  Mr.  Schaffer 
believes  that  the  payment  of  damages  by  a  large  body 
of  incorporated  laborers  would  not  cripple  them  more 
than  strikes  practically  do.  The  present  obstacle  to 
incoi-poration  is  that  "  our  people  are  not  ready  for  it. 
They  are  not  educated  up  to  the  point  yet."  A  thor- 
ough knowledge  of  the  constitution  of  the  association, 
a  thorough  respect  for  it,  and  as  thorough  a  discipline 
as  possible,  he  considers  absolutely  necessary  prelimi- 
naries, and  he  would  not  advise  incorporation  until  such 
time  as  men  are  ready  for  it  (Report,  vol.  vii.  pp. 
387,  388). 

Mr.  Milford  Spohn,  a  member  of  the  legislative 
conmiittee  of  the  National  Building  Trades  Coimcil,  is 
of  the  opinion  that  "  a  trade-union  should  be  incorpo- 
rated.   They  should  be  a  responsible  body  at  law.    I 

^  Mr.  Perkins  appears  to  have  altered  his  opinion  since  1901  ;  see 
the  Monthly  Review  of  the  National  Civic  Federation  for  April,  1903, 
p.  4. 


164    INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS 

will  qualify  that  by  stating,  that  is,  if  there  could  be 
secured  that  legislation  which  would  place  them  upon 
a  par  as  a  creature  in  law,  with  the  corporation  ;  but 
if  not,  I  think  it  very  wise  for  them  not  to  become 
incorporated."  Mr.  Spohn  sees  no  advantages  to  the 
unions  themselves  in  being  incorporated,  because  con- 
tracts made  with  corporations  in  Washington  had 
been  pronoimced  null  and  void,  because  of  the  stipula- 
tion in  them  that  only  union  men  should  be  employed. 
Mr.  Spohn  explains  later  that  it  would  not  be  neces- 
sary to  capitaKze  trade-unions  because  of  incorporation, 
or  in  order  to  obtain  it,  as  assessments  are  the  obvious 
recourse  in  case  of  damages  being  awarded  against 
them.  "  That  can  be  done  without  having  a  dollar  of 
capital  in  the  treasury  "  (Report,  vol.  vii.,  Testimony, 
pp.  142,  154). 

Mr.  H.  W.  Sherman,  general  secretary  of  the  Na- 
tional Brotherhood  of  Electrical  Workers,  holds  that 
it  woidd  be  an  advantage  to  their  local  unions  to  be 
incorporated,  "  if  the  compulsory  arbitration  law  was 
in  force.  It  woidd  not  do  any  good  now,  because  we 
cannot  force  a  man  to  arbitrate,"  and  the  union  would 
be  placed  in  a  position  to  be  sued  (Report,  vol.  vii. 
pp.  378,  381). 

These  and  other  unionist  witnesses  in  favor  of  the 
incorporation  of  trade-unions  seem  to  indicate  the 
truth  of  Labor  Commissioner  Wright's  statement :  "  I 
think  there  is  a  growmg  feeling  among  trade-unionists 
that  sooner  or  later  the  mcorporation  of  their  bodies 
will  be  not  only  desirable,  but  a  necessity.  They  re- 
cognize that  imder  an  incorporation  they  would  have 
rights  in  court  which  they  do  not  have  now  as  purely 
voluntary  associations.    They   have    had  considerable 


INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS    165 

experience  in  attempts  to  be  represented  in  proceedings 
affecting  their  interests,  and  especially  when  railroads, 
for  instance,  are  under  the  control  of  receivers.  The 
new  federal  act  relating  to  arbitration  —  conciliation 
and  arbitration  —  as  affecting  carriers  engaged  in 
interstate  commerce,  provides  that,  whether  mcorpo- 
rated  or  not,  the  officers  of  the  union  shall  be  granted 
representation  in  court  when  receivers  are  in  charge 
of  a  road.  I  think  this  principle  will  grow,  and  that 
trade-unions  generally  wiU  be  quite  wilKng  to  be 
placed  on  a  level  with  the  organizations  of  employers, 
which  are  usually  incorporated,  so  that  they  will  have 
equal  rights  before  the  courts."  Mr.  Wright  had 
previously  said  :  "  So  far  as  I  am  informed  by  trade- 
unionists  themselves,  they  have  no  objection  to  the 
laws  providing  for  incorporation,  but  they  have  not 
seen  fit  to  take  advantage  of  them,  for  the  reason  that, 
under  an  incorporation,  their  union  would  become  a 
person  under  the  law  which  could  sue  and  be  sued 
as  any  other  corporation,  and  this  would  result  in  a 
liability  for  action,  which  their  funds  would  not  war- 
rant." This  statement  as  to  the  effect  of  incorpora- 
tion harmonizes  with  the  opinions  of  unionists  before 
quoted  which  are  adverse  to  such  a  step.  But  Mr. 
Wright  believes  that  it  would  be  "  best  for  the  safety 
of  their  fimds  that  all  trade-unions  shoidd  be  incor- 
porated." When  asked,  "  And  the  employer  and  em- 
ployee are  coming  closer  together  through  friendly 
legislation,  are  they  not,  —  that  is,  through  arbitration 
and  mediation,  —  so  there  is  no  occasion  for  incorpo- 
ration ?  "  he  replies,  "  That  is  veiy  largely  true,  and 
especially  on  account  of  the  establishment  of  trade 
committees  ;  the  lace  trade,  for  instance,  has  its  own 


166    INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS 

boards  of  arbitration.  Tliat  is  a  growing  feature  in 
this  country  also."  ^ 

The  testimony  of  three  representative  employers 
appearing  before  the  Industrial  Commission  is  em- 
phatic as  to  the  need  of  incorporation  of  the  unions. 
Mr.  H.  B.  Gombers,  secretary  of  the  National  Associa- 
tion of  Master  Steam  and  Hot  Water  Fitters,  declares 
that :  "  Most  of  the  labor  unions  are  unincorporated. 
They  are  simply  intangible.  Try  to  put  your  fingers 
on  them,  and  they  are  not  there."  His  own  associa- 
tion of  employers  is  incorporated  (Report,  vol.  vii. 
pp.  952,  959). 

Such  is  the  case  also  with  the  Master  Builders  As- 
sociation of  Boston,  of  which  Mr.  W.  H.  Say  ward  is 
the  well-known  secretary.  "  I  think,"  he  says,  "  that 
all  organizations  of  that  nature  should  be  incorporated 
under  some  general  law,  —  organizations  of  workmen 
and  employers,  — so  as  to  define  their  functions  "  (Re- 
port, vol.  vii.  p.  860). 

Mr.  Frank  Leake,  a  cotton  manufacturer  of  Phila- 
delphia, believes  that  "  the  employer  is  always  at  the 
disadvantage  of  dealing  with  people  .  .  .  who  have  no 
pecuniary  standing  to  reimburse  him  for  any  damages 
for  failure  of  contract.  .  .  .  When  it  comes  to  legal 
enactment,  I  think  one  of  the  most  helpful  things  from 
the  laborers'  standpoint  would  be  that  labor  organiza- 
tions should  be  incorporated,  have  capital,  power  to  sue 
and  be  sued ;  then  the  employers  would  feel  they  were 
dealing  with  responsible  bodies  in  the  event  of  any 
breach  of  contract,  and  there  would  be  redress.    I  think 

1  I  understand  Commissioner  Wright  in  these  words  to  be  referring 
to  the  first  part  of  the  question  asked  him,  about  the  "  coming  closer 
together,"  not  to  the  "  no  occasion  for  incorporation." 


INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS    167 

it  will  finally  come  to  this"    (Report,   vol.  xiv.  pp. 
278,  279). 

The  arguments  of  the  witnesses  before  the  Industrial 
Commission  against  the  incorporation  of  trade-imions 
do  not  approve  themselves  to  a  candid  mind.^  The  wit- 
nesses substantially  agree  in  deprecating  the  responsi- 
bility which  incorporation  would  bring  about,  and  none 
of  them  faces  the  moral  point  involved,  —  that  any  body 
of  men  having  great  power  to  benefit  or  injure  their 
fellow-men  should  be  held  to  a  strict  responsibility  for 
the  moral  or  legal  use  of  such  power.  It  may  well  be 
a  question  whether  the  authority  holding  them  to  such 
a  responsibility  shoidd  be  public  opinion  or  the  law  of 
the  land  ;  but  it  is  sufficiently  obvious  that  where,  as  in 
this  case,  public  opinion  has  been  free  to  assert  itseK, 
but  has  proved  to  be  comparatively  ineffective,  then  the 
offices  of  the  law  should  be  invoked.  Mr.  F.  J.  Stim- 
son's  forcible  statement  that  the  policy  of  labor  organi- 
zations has  been  "  to  secure  the  greatest  possible  amount 
of  power  .  .  .  while  not  assuming  any  responsibility 
whatever,"  2  is  verified,  again  and  again,  in  the  history 

^  Mr.  John  Mitchell's  chapter  on  this  subject  in  Organized  Labor 
follows  the  same  general  lines. 

•2  <'  'pjjg  principle  of  all  labor  combinations,  up  to  date,  has  been  to 
secure  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  power  by  lawful  methods,  or 
even  by  unlawful  combinations,  while  not  assuming  any  responsibility 
whatever,  either  to  employers  or  to  their  own  members.  Now,  I  am 
well  aware  that  it  is,  at  first  sight,  an  attractive  position  to  labor  to  be 
in  the  position  of  a  guerrilla  army,  which,  while  making  asinmltaneuus 
attack,  can  dissolve  at  the  moment  of  any  defeat  and  scatter,  so  that, 
while  it  may  sometimes  win,  it  can  never  lose.  Nevertheless,  I  believe 
these  advantages  are  supei-ficial,  and  the  true  interest  of  labor  lies  the 
other  way.  This  is,  after  all,  like  the  position  of  slaves  or  savages. 
No  contracts  can  be  enforced  against  them  ;  they  can  scatter  in  the 
■woods,  and  do  individual  damage  when  as  an  array  they  have  yielded. 
Nevertheless,  in  the  long  run,  while  their  outbreaks  are  su))pressed, 
they  cannot,  by  peaceful  means,  gain  much  for  themselves  as  a  classi 


168    INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS 

of  strikes.  The  men  who  think  of  quitting  work  by  a 
concerted  strike  on  a  trolley  line,  on  a  railway,  or  on 
gas  or  water-works,  for  instance,  have  it  in  their  power 
to  cause  a  large  amount  of  inconvenience,  money  loss 
and  other  injury  upon  the  public  at  large,  as  well  as 
upon  their  employers.  They  realize  this  power  and  ex- 
ult in  it,  as  a  weapon  of  might  in  the  intended  warfare. 
How  often  do  they  also  reahze  the  equal  obligation 
resting  upon  them,  so  far  as  possible,  not  to  involve  the 
innocent  public  in  the  controversy  as  a  suffering  party  ? 
The  usual  thought  with  the  unionist  is  to  avail  himself 
of  this  suffering  as  much  as  possible,  in  order  thus  to 
bring  pressure  to  bear  from  the  public  upon  the  em- 
ployer to  grant  the  strikers'  demands.  It  surely  is  a 
truism  that  collective  power  should  carry  with  it  col- 
lective responsibility. 

The  same  unwillingness  to  accept  responsibility  and 
to  defer  to  authority,  if  it  decides  against  one,  is  seen 
in  the  matter  of  the  violence  that  accompanies  nearly 
all,  if  not  all,  great  strikes  in  recent  years.  The  leaders 
of  the  unions  may  counsel  peace  and  order  in  the  most 
emphatic  language  and  with  all  sincerity,  and  declare 
again  and  again  that  a  policy  of  violence  will  inevi- 
tably set  public  opinion  against  the  strikers.  If,  as  a 
fact,  however,  arson  or  murder  is  committed  under 
circumstances  in  which  the  result  of  the  crime  is  to 
frighten  the  non-miionist  from  working  and  the  public 
from  dealing  with  the  boycotted  employer,  the  imion 
disclaims  aU  that  moral  responsibility  which  naturally 
falls  upon  the  party  profiting  by  the  crune.    It  con- 

I  have  yet  to  learn  that  it  is  a  blessing  to  a  free  citizen,  or  a  free  body 
of  citizens,  to  be  unable  to  make  an  agreement  with  the  persons  with 
whom  they  deal."  —  Labor  in  its  Relations  to  Law,  pp.  135,  136. 


INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS    169 

ducts  no  vigorous  investigation  of  its  own  to  see  if 
any  of  its  members  are  guilty  persons  ;  if  members  are 
brought  before  the  courts  charged  with  such  crimes, 
the  union  furnishes  them  counsel,  and  if  they  are  foimd 
guilty,  it  does  not  expel  them  from  the  union  ;  no  such 
expulsion  is  known  to  the  annals  of  American  trade- 
unionism.  It  is  small  reason  for  wonder  that  such  a 
course  provokes  hatred  in  the  employer.  These  many 
professions  of  concern  for  the  keeping  of  peace  and  of 
preference  for  only  lawful  measures  must  be  rated  as 
merely  "  academic  "  so  long  as  the  unions  immediately 
profit  by  the  crime,  encourage  the  accused,  and  do  not 
punish  the  guilty.  It  is  not  in  such  ways  that  the 
unions  show  a  due  feeling  of  responsibility  for  their 
powers. 

The  tone  of  the  arguments  against  incorporation 
employed  by  Messrs.  Gompers,  Strasser,  Garland, 
Bridwell,  Donnelly,  Schonfarber,  Garrett,  and  others 
who  agree  with  them,  is  not  that  of  men  entirely  will- 
ing to  face  their  obvious  obligations.  Their  words 
have  the  familiar  ring  of  the  language  of  men  who 
are  in  love,  not  with  justice,  but  with  irresponsible 
power.  Human  nature  displays  too  much  of  this  im- 
moral affection  in  other  spheres  for  us  to  mistake 
its  patent  manifestations  here.  The  opposite  and  bet- 
ter spirit,  which  would  command  at  once  the  respect 
of  lovers  of  righteousness  everywhere,  would  say  to 
the  argument  for  incorporation :  "  Yes,  give  us  all  the 
privileges,  all  the  powers,  all  the  liabilities,  and  all 
the  responsibilities  of  incorporated  bodies.  Call  us 
before  the  courts,  as  other  powerful  bodies  are  called, 
to  answer  for  our  misdeeds,  to  see  if  we  have  com- 
mitted any.    We  have  the  money  to  engage  able  coim- 


170    INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS 

sel  to  defend  our  cause,  and  if  the  judges  or  the  juries 
openly  outrage  justice  in  favor  of  our  oj)ponents,  we 
will  denounce  them  before  the  bar  of  public  opinion." 
It  is  not  a  little  amusing  to  those  who  have  a  sense 
of  himaor  to  hear  the  situation  of  incorporated  trade- 
unions  prophesied  by  three  of  these  witnesses  as  likely 
to  be  pitiful  in  the  extreme.  Employers,  it  is  iterated 
and  reiterated,  will  constantly  be  bringing  purely  mali- 
cious suits  for  damages,  and  no  justice  for  the  work- 
ingman  can  be  expected  from  judge  or  jury.  This 
attitude  of  leading  unionists  should  remind  an  anti- 
protectionist  vividly  of  the  high  protectionists  who 
proudly  represent  American  industry  in  one  breath  as 
able  to  meet  competition  from  any  quarter,  and  in  the 
next  as  needing  protection  against  the  "  pauper  labor  " 
of  the  Old  World  —  a  giant  in  one  sentence,  and  a 
pigmy  in  the  next !  No  discerning  man  can  consider 
the  great  trade-unions  of  this  coimtry  weak  or  con- 
temptible opponents  to  meet  in  court.  If  they  find 
some  prejudices  still  remaining  in  the  minds  of  the 
older  judges,  we  cannot  see  why  the  unions  alone  in 
the  world  should  be  free  from  the  burden  of  dissipat- 
ing prejudice  by  the  ordinary  methods.  The  prejudice 
is  not  deep-seated  enough  to  defeat  the  ends  of  justice 
so  constantly  as  they  would  have  us  believe.  Pleading 
the  baby-act  is  a  procedure  quite  out  of  keeping  with 
the  well-supplied  treasuries,  the  large  intellectual  abil- 
ity, and  the  great  political  influence  of  the  trade- 
unions  of  America.  When  miionists  assert  that  "  the 
unions  cannot  expect  justice  at  the  hands  of  the  courts," 
they  come  too  near  to  enrolling  themselves  among  the 
dangerous  classes.  No  law-abiding  community,  espe- 
cially in  a  free  state  with  a  popular  suffrage,  can  perma- 


INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS    171 

nently  respect  men  wlio  openly  proclaim  their  own  lack 
of  regard  for  the  laws  and  the  courts  to  which  all  other 
persons  than  unionists  are  perpetually  subject. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  many  unionists  who  oppose  incor- 
poration, desire  to  become,  even  more  fully  than  they 
are  now,  a  privileged  class  outside  of  the  jiirisdiction 
of  law.  As  regards  their  obligations  they  are  silent, 
while  eloquent  for  all  the  rights  which  the  law  can 
confer  upon  them,  Mr.  Gompers  desires  "  the  funds 
of  a  trade-union  to  be  absolutely  safe  from  the  interfer- 
ence of  the  State,"  —  the  interference  to  which  aU  other 
funds  are  subject.  He  insists  that  labor  agreements 
under  law  woidd  practically  be  binding  upon  employees, 
but  not  upon  employers ;  at  the  same  time,  he  avers 
that  such  agreements,  when  made  now  without  legal 
virtue,  are  enforced  upon  the  employer  by  the  power  of 
the  organization.  How  incorporation,  which  elsewhere 
aids  men  in  court,  would  in  this  case  so  weaken  them 
that  legal  contracts  could  not  be  enforced  against  the 
employer,  is  one  of  those  things  which  only  a  peculiarly 
constituted  mind  is  likely  to  perceive.  A  president  of 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor  is  expected  to  have 
a  partisan  mind  ;  but  there  are  degrees  in  such  matters, 
and  it  is  not  well  that  he  have  a  mind  so  strongly  par- 
tisan as  to  weaken  the  most  effective  advocacy  of  his 
cause.  The  arguments  of  the  labor  leaders  opposed  to 
incorporation  abound  in  that  special  pleading  always 
dear  to  persons  enjoying  power  and  free  from  respon- 
sibility. When  did  such  persons  welcome  new  respon- 
sibility? It  was  only  a  Wordsworth  who  coidd  write, 
"  Me  this  unchartered  freedom  tires." 

Trade-unionists  as  a  body  will  yet  come  to  learn 
the  wisdom  of  the  position  taken  by  Messrs.  Perkins, 


172    INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS 

Schaffer,  and  Sherman  of  their  own  body,  by  such 
employers  as  Mr.  Gombers,  Mr.  Leake,  and  Mr. 
Sayward,  and  by  such  public  men  as  the  Duke  of 
Devonshire,  Sir  Michael  Hicks-Beach,  and  Conunis- 
sioner  Wright.  Unions  have  nothing  to  hide,  and  they 
have  nothing  to  lose  that  will  not  be  well  lost  by  com- 
ing into  legal  equality  with  the  employer  :  they  have 
nothing  to  gain  in  the  end  by  the  guerrilla  policy  of 
which  Mr.  Stimson  speaks.  As  he  says,  it  cannot  be 
"  a  blessing  to  a  free  citizen,  or  a  free  body  of  citizens, 
to  be  unable  to  make  an  agreement  with  the  persons 
with  whom  they  deal "  —  an  agreement  of  the  most 
thoroughly  binding  character. 

The  mistake  is  often  made  of  supposing  that  the 
imions  are  not  now  theoretically  responsible  to  the  law 
for  their  actions.  According  to  the  prevailing  rules  oi 
law  they  are  not  free  from  such  responsibility  because 
they  are  voluntaiy  unincorporated  associations.  On 
the  contraiy,  "  A  union,  although  a  volmitary,  unin- 
corporated association,  is  legally  responsible  for  its 
acts  in  much  the  same  way  that  an  individual,  a  part- 
nership, or  a  corporation  is  responsible.  If  a  union, 
through  its  constituted  agents,  commits  a  wrong,  or 
is  guilty  of  violence,  or  of  illegal  oppression,  the  union, 
and  not  merely  the  individuals  who  are  the  direct 
instruments  of  the  wrong,  can  be  enjoined  or  made 
liable  for  damages  to  the  same  extent  that  the  union 
coidd  be  if  it  were  mcorporated  ;  and  the  funds  belong- 
ing to  the  unincorporated  union  can  be  reached  to 
satisfy  any  damages  which  might  be  recovered  for  the 
wrong  done."  ^    The  Taff  Vale  Railway  decision,  it  is 

^  Mr.  Louis  D.  Brandeis,  a  prominent  lawyer  of  Boston,  in   an 
article  on  "  The  Incorporation  of  Trade-Unions,  "  in  The  Green  Bag, 


INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS    173 

commonly  asserted  by  American  lawyers,  "  laid  down 
no  principle  of  law  new  to  the  country."  Numerous 
instances  may  be  found  in  our  courts  where  labor 
unions  have  been  enjoined,  and  in  Massachusetts,  "  more 
than  thirty  years  ago,  an  action  was  maintained  against 
a  union  for  wrong-fuUy  extorting  from  an  employer  a 
penalty  for  having  used  the  product  of  '  scab  labor.'  " 
In  case  the  funds  of  the  union  are  not  sufficient  to 
pay  the  damages  sought  by  an  aggrieved  employer,  he 
can  attach  the  property  of  individual  members  to  a 
sufficient  amovmt.^  Of  the  use  of  this  power  there  has 
recently  been  an  interesting  example  in  Connecticut. 

for  January,  1903.  I  quote  Mr.  Brandeis  freely,  as  a  representative  of 
the  best  legal  opinion  of  the  day  on  the  matter.  A  great  variety  of 
opinions  from  lawyers,  employers,  and  others  may  be  found  in  the  first 
issue  of  the  Monthly  Review  of  the  National  Civic  Federation  for 
AprU,  1903. 

2  To  this  effect  Lord  Lindley  thus  expressed  himself  in  the  Taff 
Vale  Railway  case  :  "  My  Lords,  the  problem  how  to  adapt  the 
legal  proceedings  to  unincorporated  societies  consisting  of  many  mem- 
bers is  by  no  means  new.  The  rules  as  to  parties  to  common  law 
actions  were  too  rigid  for  practical  purposes  when  those  rules  had  to 
be  applied  to  such  societies.  But  the  rules  as  to  parties  to  suits  in 
equity  were  not  the  same  as  those  which  governed  courts  of  common 
law,  and  were  long  since  adapted  to  meet  tlie  difficulties  presented  by 
a  multiplicity  of  persons  interested  in  the  subject  matter  of  litigation. 
Some  of  such  persons  were  allowed  to  sue  and  be  sued  on  behalf  of 
themselves  and  all  others  having  the  same  interest.  This  was  done 
avowedly  to  prevent  a  failure  of  justice. 

"  I  have  myself  no  doubt  whatever  that  if  the  trade-union  could  not 
be  sued  in  this  case  in  its  registered  name,  some  of  its  members 
(namely  its  executive  committee)  could  be  sued  on  behalf  of  them- 
selves and  the  other  members  of  the  society,  and  an  injimction  and 
judgment  for  damages  could  be  obtained  in  a  proper  case  in  an  action 
80  framed.  Further,  it  is,  in  my  opinion,  equally  plain  that,  if  the 
tnistees  in  whom  the  property  of  the  society  is  legally  vested  were 
added  as  parties,  an  order  could  be  made  in  the  same  action  for  the 
payment  by  them  out  of  the  funds  of  the  society  of  all  damages  and 
costs  for  which  the  plaintiff  might  obtain  judgment  against  the  trade- 
union." 


174    INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS 

The  demand  for  the  incorporation  of  the  unions 
rests  upon  a  quite  different  basis  from  that  of  theory. 
"  While  the  rules  of  legal  liability,"  says  Mr.  Brandeis, 
"  apply  fully  to  the  unions  though  unincorjjorated,  it 
is,  as  a  practical  matter,  more  difficult  for  the  plain- 
tiff to  conduct  the  litigation,  and  it  is  particularly  dif- 
ficult to  reach  the  funds  of  the  union  with  which  to 
satisfy  any  judgment  that  may  be  recovered.  There 
has  consequently  arisen,  not  a  legal,  but  a  practical 
immunity  of  the  unions  in  such  cases  for  any  wrongs 
committed."  ^  Mr.  Brandeis  goes  on  to  state  his  belief 
that  this  practical  immunity  is  "  largely  resjjonsible 
for  the  existence  of  the  greatest  grievance  which  labor 
unions  consider  they  have  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the 
courts,  that  is,  the  so-called  '  government  by  injunction.' 
.  .  .  When,  in  the  course  of  a  strike,  illegal  acts  are 
committed  .  .  .  the  indi\adual  committing  the  wrong 
is  legally  liable.  If  the  act  is  a  crime,  the  perpetrator 
may  be  arrested  and  punished.  .  .  .  Many  acts,  how- 
ever, may  be  illegal  which  are  not  criminal,  and  for 
these  the  only  remedy  at  law  is  a  civil  action  for 
damages  ;  but,  as  the  defendant  is  usually  financially 
irresponsible,  such  action  woidd  afford  no  remedy. 
The  courts,  therefore  .  .  .  have  been  induced  to  ap- 
ply freely,  perhaps  too  freely,  the  writ  of  injimction. 
...  If  the  courts  had  been  dealing  with  a  responsible 
union,  instead  of  with  irresponsible  defendants,  they 

1  Judofe  Warren  A.  Reed,  of  Brockton.  Mass.,  for  three  years  chair- 
man of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Arhitration  and  Conciliation,  ex- 
presses himself  to  the  same  effect  concerning  the  actual  irresponsibility 
of  the  unions  :  "  There  seems  to  be  a  practical  immunity  from  liabil- 
ity to  suit,  which,  at  present  at  least,  serves  the  purpose  of  actual 
freedom  from  liability."  (See  the  Monthly  Review  of  the  National 
Civic  Federation  for  April,  1903,  p.  51.) 


INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL    UNIONS    175 

would  doubtless,  in  many  cases,  have  refused  to  Inter- 
fere by  injunction." 

In  accord  with  Mr.  Stimson,  Mr.  Brandeis  consid- 
ers that  incorporation  of  the  unions  would  greatly 
improve  their  moral  tone.  "  A  very  wise  and  able 
railroad  president "  once  said  to  him,  "  I  need  the 
labor  union  to  protect  me  from  my  own  arbitrari- 
ness." So  "■  the  best  friends  of  labor  unions  must  and 
should  admit  that  their  action  is  frequently  hasty  and 
ill-considered,  the  result  of  emotion  rather  than  of 
reason  ;  that  their  action  is  frequently  arbitrary,  the 
natural  result  of  the  possession  of  great  power  by 
persons  not  accustomed  to  its  use."  The  unions,  there- 
fore "  need  something  to  protect  them  from  their  own 
arbitrariness.  The  employer  and  the  community  also 
require  this  protection.  .  .  .  The  growth  and  success 
of  labor  unions  .  .  .  would  be  much  advanced  by  any 
measui'es  which  tend  to  make  them  more  deliberate, 
less  arbitrary,  and  more  patient  with  the  trammels 
of  a  civilized  community.  .  .  .  Incorporation  woidd 
serve  to  this  end."  The  unions,  Mr.  Brandeis  con- 
cludes, "  should  take  the  position  squarely  that  they 
are  amenable  to  law,  prepared  to  take  the  consequences 
if  they  transgress,  and  thus  show  that  they  are  in  full 
sympathy  with  the  spirit  of  our  people  whose  political 
system  rests  upon  the  proposition  that  this  is  a  gov- 
ernment of  law,  and  not  of  men." 

All  that  has  been  said  about  the  advantages  to  be 
derived  from  the  incorporation  of  trade-unions,  —  to 
themselves,  to  the  parties  with  whom  they  contract,  and 
to  the  public,  —  applies,  imitaUs  mutandis,  to  the 
employers  on  their  side.  Each  employer  dealing  with 
a  trade-union  separately  is,  of  course,  a  legal  person 


176    INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS 

already  ;  but  if  he  is  associated  with  other  employers, 
that  association  should  become  a  legal  person  by  in- 
corporation. The  too  frequent  failure  of  employers' 
associations  to  take  this  step  was  brought  forward  by 
a  member  of  the  Industrial  Commission  as  an  impor- 
tant reason  for  the  opposition  to  incorporation  felt  by 
the  trade-unions ;  and  this  view  was  endorsed  by  the 
Commissioner  of  Labor.  Mr.  Ratchford  thought  that 
"  the  incorporation  of  trade-unions  is  very  largely  hin- 
dered by  reason  of  the  failure  of  associated  employers 
to  incorporate  under  the  law.  It  is  true  that  large 
employers  of  labor  incorporate  under  the  laws,  but  it 
is  rarely  true  that  employers  who  are  associated  to- 
gether in  the  sense  of  making  annual  agreements  with 
their  workmen  are  incorporated.  For  instance,  the 
coal  producers  wiU  meet  their  employees  annually  and 
make  an  agreement.  Such  an  organization  of  em- 
ployers or  employees  is  not  incorporated.  .  .  .  The 
workmen  are  largely  discouraged  from  incorporating 
their  unions,  or  making  themselves  amenable  to  the 
laws  of  the  State,  subjecting  themselves  to  liabilities 
and  damages,  while  the  employing  classes  are  free 
from  such  loss  and  liabilities." 

Commissioner  Wright  agreed  with  Mr.  Eatchford 
entirely  that  "  the  opposition  to  incorporation  on  the 
part  of  trade-unions  lies  very  largely  in  the  fact  that 
employers'  corporations  sometimes  have  an  association 
comprehending  several  corporations,  and  that  that 
association  is  not  amenable  to  the  law  regulating  cor- 
porations ;  and  the  trade-unions  do  not  wish  to  be 
subjected  to  actions  which  could  not  be  brought 
against  the  parties  with  whom  they  are  negotiating. 


INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS    111 

This  very  point  was  well  illustrated  in  the  Chicago 
strike,  where  the  Railway  Managers  Association  con- 
sisted of  representatives  of  the  twenty-four  railroads 
centring  in  Chicago.  That  was  a  purely  voluntary 
association,  without  incorporation  and  without  legal 
responsibility.  The  unions  —  the  American  Railway 
Union  —  had  to  deal  with  that  body,  itself  not  incor- 
porated. There  lies  very  great  difficulty  in  the  ques- 
tion of  incorporating  trade-unions.  The  incorporation 
of  an  association  like  the  Railway  Managers  Associa- 
tion would  be  the  direct  legalization  of  a  vast  trust. 
The  incorporation  of  a  group  of  labor  unions  woidd 
perhaps  be  considered  the  same  thing  ;  but  where  a  sin- 
gle union,  like  the  Brotherhood  of  Railway  Conductors, 
is  incorporated,  and  it  should  deal  with  a  single  rail- 
road, which  is  incorporated,  they  would  then  be  on  an 
equality  before  the  law.  That  is  a  question  that  will 
crystallize  later  on,  and  vohmtary  associations,  whether 
of  employers  or  of  labor  unions,  will  find  themselves 
at  a  disadvantage  before  the  public  or  in  the  public 
estimation,  because,  as  associations,  they  will  do  cer- 
tain things,  or  order  certain  things  done,  for  which  no 
single  member,  whether  that  member  is  another  cor- 
poration or  an  individual,  can  be  held  responsible.  It 
is  a  very  complicated  question,  in  which  the  rights  of 
the  public  are  not  yet  so  generally  recognized  as  the 
individual  rights  of  the  members  of  the  two  voluntary 
associations.  .  .  .  The  extension  of  the  doctrine  of  in- 
junction so  as  to  reach  a  man  before  he  conmiits  an 
act  for  which,  if  conmiitted,  he  would  be  subject  to 
trial  by  the  criminal  courts,  has  led  many  trade-union- 
ists to  believe  that  they  can  relieve  themselves  of  indi- 


178    INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS 

vidual  responsibility  through  incorporation."    (Report, 
vol.  vii.,  Testimony,  p.  8.)  ^ 

The  desirability  and  the  necessity  of  the  incorpora- 
tion of  employers'  associations  as  a  requisite  to  indus- 
trial peace  should,  then,  be  recognized  by  all  employers. 
As  the  smaller  body  of  men,  and  jsresumably  the  more 
intelligent,  they  should  anticipate  such  action  by  trade- 
unionists,  and  show  plainly  that  they  themselves  pro- 
pose thus  to  meet  all  the  responsibihties  involved  in 
the  new  conditions  of  modern  industry.  This  duty  was 
made  prominent  in  the  excellent  "  Observations  ap- 
pended to  the  Report "  of  the  Royal  Commission  of 
Labour,  1894,  and  signed  by  the  Duke  of  Devonshire, 
himself  a  large  employer  of  labor.  Sir  David  Dale  of 
Darlington  (a  prominent  ironmaster  and  coal  miner), 
Mr.  Thomas  Ismay  (shipowner),  Sir  George  Livesey 
(at  the  head  of  the  South  Metropolitan  Gas  Works 
of  London),  Mr.  WiUiam  Timstill  (a  railway  director), 
Sir  Michael  E.  Hicks-Beach  (formerly  Chancellor  of 
the  Exchequer),  Mr.  Leonard  H.  Courtney,  M.  P.,  and 
Sir  Frederick  Pollock,  the  distinguished  lawyer.  These 
"  Observations  "  closed  by  commending  incorporation 
as  a  plan  which  "  may,  it  appears  to  us,  ultimately 
prove  to  be  the  most  natural  and  reasonable  solution 
of  some,  at  least,  of  the  difficulties  which  have  been 
brought  to  our  notice."  At  the  beginning  of  the  paper 
the  signers  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  "  it  must 
be  borne  in  mind  that  when  trade-unions  or  ti'ade  asso- 

^  The  point  raised  by  Commissioner  Wright  against  the  recognition 
of  a  "  trust  "  by  incorporation  has  lost  much  of  its  force  in  the  last  five 
years  through  the  rapid  development  of  rational  opinion.  The  justify- 
ing reason  of  "  trusts  "  is  now  recognized,  and  public  opinion  is  seek- 
ing not  to  extirpate  them,  but  to  regulate  them  in  the  interest  of  the 
consumer. 


INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS    179 

ciations  are  spoken  of,  associations  of  employers  as 
well  as  of  workmen  are  included,  and  that  if,  in  any 
particular  instance,  it  appears  to  be  suggested  that 
special  privileges  should  be  conferred  or  responsibili- 
ties imposed  upon  one  class  of  such  associations,  it  will 
probably  be  found  that  corresponding  privileges  or 
liabilities  will  attach  to  the  other."  They  then  went 
on  to  consider  forcibly  the  many  advantages  likely  to 
be  found  in  clothing  these  unions  and  associations 
with  legal  personality.  "  We  are  anxious  to  make  it 
clear  that  we  propose  nothing  of  a  compidsory  charac- 
ter, but  that  we  merely  desire  that  existing  or  future 
trade  associations  should  have  the  liberty,  if  they  de- 
sire it,  of  acquiring  a  larger  legal  personality  and  cor- 
porate character  than  that  which  they  can  at  present 
possess.  It  must  be  added  that  even  if  trade  associa- 
tions were  thus  clothed  with  a  legal  personality,  it 
would  be  open  to  them  by  express  stipulation  to  pro- 
vide that  any  special  agreement  between  them  should 
not  be  enforceable  at  law"  (Section  10).^ 

This  last  statement  brings  us  to  a  point  which  de- 
serves careful  consideration,  —  the  special  form  of  cor- 
porate existence  to  be  recommended  to  trade-unions.^ 
In  this  direction  I  do  not  presume  to  suggest  more 
than  that  any  law  on  this  subject  should  give  express 
power  to  the  unions  to  enter  into  labor  contracts  for 

^  A  considerable  part  of  this  importaut  document  will  be  found  in 
the  Appendix. 

2  An  incorporated  trade-union  would,  of  course,  be  a  private  cor- 
poration, without  capital  stock,  as  not  being  created  for  pecuniary  pro- 
fit, and  belonging  to  the  genus  "  benefit  society."  It  might  claim,  then, 
to  be  a  corporation  with  a  soul,  despite  "  the  opinion  of  Manwood, 
Chief  Baron,  touching  corporations :  None  can  create  souls  but  God  ; 
but  the  King  creates  corporations  ;  therefore  they  liave  no  souls," 
—  an  opinion  which  Sir  Edward  Coke  had  expressed  before  him. 


180    INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS 

the  employment  of  its  members,  with  all  the  privileges 
and  liabilities  consequent  thereon.  As  Dr.  Isaac  A. 
Hourwich  points  out  in  his  valuable  testimony  before 
the  Industrial  Commission,  there  should  be  "  a  pro- 
vision to  do  away  with  the  technical  difficulties  which 
present  themselves  in  the  formation  of  such  contracts, 
—  in  the  way,  for  example,  of  the  distinction  which  is 
usually  drawn  between  the  corporation  as  such  and 
its  members."  There  should  be  "  a  special  law  passed 
which  would  be  adapted  to  the  needs  of  labor  unions 
as  corporations  siii  generis.  ...  I  consider  that  a  labor 
organization  cannot  be  incorporated  under  any  of  the 
existing  laws  for  the  incorporation  of  business  or  any 
other  corporations,  because  they  are  not  adapted  to  the 
particular  needs  of  labor  organizations.  .  .  .  The  law 
should  expressly  recognize  the  identity  of  interest  be- 
tween the  association  and  its  members  :  it  should  be 
so  framed  that  a  breach  of  a  joint  contract  of  employ- 
ment woidd  give  the  union  a  right  of  action  for  the 
damages  sustained  by  its  members  through  resulting 
loss  of  wages  or  employment.  The  scope  of  this  en- 
abling act  must  be  sufficiently  broad  to  include  all 
legitimate  objects  for  which  agreements  are  to-day  made 
between  labor  unions  and  employers."  ^  Any  law  for  the 
incorporation  of  trade-unions  should,  of  course,  care- 
fidly  stipulate  for  what  purposes  they  are  incorporated, 
and,  after  the  manner  of  the  New  Zealand  "  Industrial 
Conciliation  and  Arbitration  Act"  of  1900,  it  should 
declare  that  every  such  society  becomes  a  body  corpo- 
rate "  solely  for  the  purposes  of  this  act."  ^ 

^  Report  of  the  Commission,  vol.  xiv.  p.  150. 

2  While  the  incorporation  is  thus  limited  to  proceedings  and  powers 
under  the  arbitration  law,  the  field  has  become  practically  very  wide. 
Incorporation  of  this  kind  is  obviously  essential  to  arbitration  of  the 
New  Zealand  type. 


INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS    181 

The  important  decision  in  the  Taff  Vale  Railway 
Company  ease,  given  in  July,  1901,  by  the  House  of 
Lords,  sitting  as  a  law  court,  has  profoundly  affected 
the  situation  in  this  whole  matter  of  the  incorporation  of 
industrial  unions.  It  is  a  notable  instance  of  the  truth 
of  Mr.  H.  O.  Taylor's  remark,  in  the  preface  to  the 
fifth  edition  of  his  "  Treatise  on  the  Law  of  Private 
Corporations  :  "  "  Courts  continually  change  the  law 
by  endeavoring  to  keep  it  abreast  of  the  people's  life." 

The  importance  of  the  case  will  justify  a  full  state- 
ment.^ Cardiff,  South  Wales,  is  situated  on  the  Taff 
River,  which  runs  down  from  the  great  coal  district. 
The  Taff  Vale  Railway  Company,  whose  road  runs  into 
the  station  of  the  Great  Western  Railway  Company 
at  Cardiff,  had  a  dispute,  of  a  minor  degree  but  com- 
plicated, with  its  workmen,  who  were  members  of  the 
strong  trade-union  known  as  the  Amalgamated  Society 
of  Railway  Servants.  This  society,  embracing  all  kinds 
of  employees  on  a  railway  system,was  registered  under 
the  Trade  Union  Acts  of  1871  and  1876.2  The  organiz- 
ing secretary  brought  about  a  strike  in  August,  1900, 
and  the  employees  resorted  to  picketing  about  the  sta- 
tion and  elsewhere.  On  August  30  the  railway  company 
brought  an  action  in  the  Queen's  Bench  Division 
of  the  High  Court  of  Justice  against  the  society  in  its 

^  The  authorities  for  my  account  are  the  Labour  Gazette  for  Au- 
gust, 1901 ;  an  article  by  Mr.  John  G.  Steffee  of  New  York  in  the 
American  Law  Review  of  St.  Louis,  for  May-June,  190o,  jip.  o85- 
394 ;  Trade-  Union  Law  and  Cases,  by  II.  Cohen  and  George  Howell, 
pp.  34-41,  82-84  (this  volume  brings  the  case  dowTi  only  to  December, 
1901)  ;  La  Crise  du  Trade-Unionisme,  by  P.  Mantoux  and  M.  Alfossa, 
1903,  part  i. ;  and  the  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  No.  50,  Jan- 
uary, 1904;  Appendix  A,  to  a  report  on  Labor  Unions  and  British 
Industry,  by  A.  Maurice  Low. 

2  34  and  35  Vict.,  c.  31  (1871) ;  39  and  40  Vict.,  e.  22  (1876). 


182    INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL    UNIONS 

registered  name,  and  against  Richard  Bell,  its  general 
secretary,  and  James  Holmes,  the  organizing  secretary 
for  the  west  of  England,  including  South  Wales,  the 
claim  being  for  an  injunction  and  for  other  relief, 
which  would  include  damages.  The  injunction  asked 
for  was  to  restrain  the  society,  their  servants,  agents, 
and  others,  acting  by  their  authority,  and  their  officers 
named  as  co-defendants,  from  watching  or  besetting,  or 
causing  to  be  watched  or  beset,  the  Great  Western 
Railway  Station  at  Cardiff,  or  the  works  of  the  Taif 
Vale  Company,  or  any  of  them,  or  the  approaches 
thereto,  or  the  jilaces  of  residence,  or  any  place  where 
they  might  happen  to  be,  of  any  workmen  employed 
by  or  proposing  to  work  for  that  company,  for  the 
purpose  of  persuading  or  otherwise  preventing  persons 
from  working  for  that  company,  or  for  any  purpose, 
except  merely  to  obtain  or  communicate  informa- 
tion, and  from  procuring  any  person  who  might  have, 
or  might  enter  into,  contracts  with  the  company,  to 
commit  a  breach  of  such  contracts.  The  claim  was 
supported  by  a  statement  of  these  facts :  That  on  Au- 
gust 20, 1900,  Mr.  Bell  wrote  to  the  general  manager 
of  the  railway  company,  supporting  the  action  of  their 
employees  in  ceasing  to  work,  and  stating  that  all 
further  negotiations  were  to  be  conducted  through 
him.  The  railway  company  had  previously  arranged 
for  the  engagement  of  other  servants,  and  large  num- 
bers of  men  began  to  arrive  at  Cardiff  for  the  purpose 
of  taking  the  places  of  the  strikers.  These  men  were 
watched  and  beset,  and,  as  was  contended,  were  ille- 
gally prevented  from  entering  the  service  of  the  rail- 
way company.  Several  instances  were  given  of  forcible 
prevention  of  men  so  engaged  to  replace  those  on  strike. 


INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL    UNIONS    183 

Bell  also  published  and  circulated,  over  his  own  name, 
as  secretary,  what  was  known  as  the  "  Blackleg  "  cir- 
cular, in  the  following  terms  :  — 

Strike  on  the  Taff  Vale  Railway.  Men's  Headquarters, 
Cobourn  St.,  Cathay s.  There  has  been  a  strike  on  the  Taff 
Vale  Railway  since  Monday  last.  The  management  are 
using  every  means  to  decoy  men  here  whom  they  employ 
for  the  purpose  of  blacklegging  the  men  on  strike.  Drivers, 
firemen,  brakemen,  and  signalmen  are  all  out.  Are  you 
willing  to  be  known  as  a  blackleg  ?  If  you  accept  employ- 
ment on  the  Taff  Vale  that  is  what  you  will  be  known  by. 
On  arriving  at  Cardiff  call  at  the  above  address,  where  you 
can  get  information  and  assistance. 

Further  particulars  were  given  of  the  interception 
of  men  on  their  arrival  at  Cardiff  by  Bell  and  a  body 
of  strikers,  who  asked  the  new  men  whether  they 
wished  to  be  known  as  "'  blacklegs,"  and  offered  to 
pay  their  fare  home. 

On  the  same  day  (August  30)  that  the  company 
applied,  the  society  also  made  application  to  Mr.  Jus- 
tice Farwell,  who  was  then  sitting  as  vacation  judge 
(being  a  Justice  of  the  High  Court  attached  to  the 
Chancery  Division),  that  the  name  of  the  society  should 
be  struck  out  of  the  action  as  defendants,  on  the 
ground  that  they  were  neither  a  coi'poration  nor  an 
individual,  and  could  not  be  sued  in  a  quasi-corporate 
or  any  other  capacity. 

On  September  5  Mr.  Justice  Farwell  refused  to 
strike  out  the  name  of  the  society,  with  costs  against 
the  defendant,  and  granted  an  interim  injunction  on 
the  summons  against  the  society,  until  the  trial  of  the 
action,  restraining  the  society  in  the  manner  asked 
for  by  the  company,  and  ordering  that  the  costs  be 


184    INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS 

costs  in  the  action.  (The  strike  itself  ended  the  first 
week  in  September.) 

The  society  then  appealed  from  the  two  orders  of 
Mr.  Justice  Farwell,  and  on  November  21,  1900,  the 
Court  of  Appeal  (consisting  of  the  Master  of  the  Rolls, 
the  late  Sir  Archibald  Smith,  presiding,  and  Lords 
Justices  Collins  and  Stirling)  reversed  the  decision 
of  Mr.  Justice  Farwell  and  dissolved  the  injunction 
granted  by  him  against  the  society,  and  ordered  the 
name  of  the  society  to  be  stricken  out  of  the  said  action. 
Costs  in  the  Court  of  Appeal  and  in  the  court  below 
were  allowed.  The  court  held  that  nothing  in  the 
Trade  Union  Acts  made  a  trade-union  liable  to  be  sued 
in  its  corporate  name,  so  as  to  enable  its  funds  to  be 
taken  in  execution,  and  that  the  action  was  not  main- 
tainable against  a  trade-union. 

The  company,  in  turn,  appealed  to  the  House  of 
Lords,  which  held  that  a  trade-union  registered  under 
the  Trade-Union  Acts  can  be  sued  in  its  registered 
name,  and  reversed  the  judgment  of  the  Court  of 
Appeal,  and  restored  that  of  the  vacation  judge,  or- 
dering the  society  to  pay  costs  both  in  the  House  of 
Lords  and  in  the  court  below. ^ 

In  the  first  opinion  on  the  case,  given  by  Mr.  Justice 
Farwell,  the  trial  justice,  he  says  :  — 

"  This  is  not  a  case  of  suing  in  contract  to  which  the 
provisions  of  section  4  of  the  act  would  apply :  it  is  an 
action  in  tort,  and  the  real  question  is,  whether,  on  a 
true  construction  of  the  Trade  Union  Acts,  the  legis- 
lature has  legalized  an  association  which  can  own  pro- 
perty, and  can  act  by  its  agents  by  interfering  in  labor 

^  Taff  Vale  Railway  Company  v.  Amalgamated  Society  of  Railway 
Servants  and  Others,  House  of  Lords,  July  12,  15,  10,  and  22, 1901. 


INGORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS    185 

disputes  between  employers  and  employees,  but  which 
cannot  be  sued  in  respect  to  such  acts." 

The  opinion  then  discusses  at  great  length  the  vari- 
ous phases  of  the  case,  and  reviews  and  distinguishes 
the  nmnerous  cases  cited  by  the  defendant's  counsel, 
together  with  the  arguments  adduced  to  show  the  non- 
liability of  the  defendant  association  for  the  damages 
complained  of.   The  learned  justice  says  :  — 

"  K  the  contention  of  the  defendant  society  were 
well  foimded,  the  legislature  has  authorized  the  crea- 
tion of  numerous  bodies  of  men  capable  of  owning 
great  wealth  and  acting  by  agents  with  absolutely  no 
responsibility  for  the  wrongs  they  may  do  to  other 
persons  by  the  use  of  that  wealth  and  the  employment 
of  those  agents.  They  would  be  at  liberty  (I  do  not 
at  all  suggest  that  the  defendant  society  would  so  act) 
to  disseminate  libels  broadcast,  or  to  hire  men  to  re- 
produce the  rattening  methods  that  disgraced  Sheffield 
thirty  or  forty  years  ago,  and  their  victims  would  have 
nothing  to  look  to  for  damages  but  the  pockets  of  in- 
dividuals, usually  men  of  small  means,  who  acted  as 
their  agents." 

The  court  concedes  the  point  raised,  that  the  de- 
fendant society  is  not  a  corporation,  and  that  individuals 
and  corporations  are  the  only  legal  entities  known  to 
the  law  which  are  capable  of  suing  or  being  sued.  The 
gist  of  the  decision  is  stated  in  the  following  para- 
graph :  — 

"  Although  a  corporation  and  an  individual  or  indi- 
viduals may  be  the  only  entities  known  to  the  common 
law  who  can  sue  or  be  sued,  it  is  competent  for  the  le- 
gislature to  give  to  an  association  of  individuals  which 
is  neither  a  corporation  nor  an  individual  nor  a  part- 


186    INCORPORA  TION  OF  INDUSTRIAL    UNIONS 

nership  a  capacity  for  owning  property  and  acting  by 
agents ;  and  such  capacity,  in  the  absence  of  express 
enactment  to  the  contrary,  involves  the  necessary  cor- 
relative of  liability,  to  the  extent  of  such  property,  for 
the  acts  and  defaults  of  such  agents." 

It  is  against  this  doctrine,  which  is  the  basis  of  the 
judgment  of  the  trial  court,  that  the  Court  of  Appeal, 
in  an  opinion  written  by  the  Master  of  the  Rolls,  ren- 
dered its  decision,  reversing  the  orders  of  injunction 
gi-anted  by  Mr.  Justice  Farwell. 

The  Master  of  the  Rolls,  in  delivering  the  judgment 
of  the  court,  said :  "  The  point  is  important,  for  if 
a  trade-union  can  be  sued  in  the  manner  proposed  in 
this  case,  the  funds  of  the  imion  will  be  liable  to  be 
taken  in  execution  under  a  judgment  obtained  against 
the  union  in  the  society's  name  .  .  .  The  learned 
judge,  in  the  early  part  of  his  judgment,  says  that 
wliich  is  imdoubtedly  the  truth,  namely,  that  '  a  trade- 
union  is  neither  a  corporation  nor  an  individual,  nor  a 
partnership  betw^een  a  number  of  indiiaduals,'  and  in 
this  we  entirely  agree.  There  can,  in  our  judgment, 
be  no  doubt  that  at  common  law  the  defendants  could 
not  be  sued  in  the  name  in  which  they  are  sued  in  this 
action,  any  more  than  a  tradesman  could  sue  a  defend- 
ant in  the  name  of  a  West  End  club  for  goods  sup- 
plied by  him  to  that  club,  for  the  simple  reason  that 
the  name  of  a  club  is  not  the  name  of  a  corporation, 
nor  of  an  individual,  nor  of  a  partnership,  which  apai't 
from  the  statute  are  the  only  entities  known  to  the 
law  as  being  capable  of  being  sued."  Speaking  of 
the  Trade  Union  Acts,  the  Master  of  the  Rolls  said : 
"  Now,  in  considering  these  acts,  it  is  in  the  first 
place  to  be  pointed  out  that  there  is  no  section  em- 


INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS    187 

powering  a  trade-imion  to  sue  or  to  be  sued  in  its 
registered  name,  nor  is  there  any  provision  as  to  con- 
stituting tlie  society  a  corporation,  so  that  it  may  be 
sued  as  such.  And  this  is  the  more  remarkable  if,  as 
the  learned  judge  holds,  it  was  the  intention  of  the  le- 
gislature that  a  trade-union  was  to  be  sued  in  its  regis- 
tered name,  seeing  that  when  it  was  desired  that  a 
society  should  sue  or  be  sued  in  its  registered  name 
the  legislature  knew  well  how  in  plain  terms  to  bring 
about  such  a  result.  For  instance,  in  the  Companies  Act, 
1862  (25-26  Vict.,  c.  89),  by  sect.  6,  it  is  enacted  that 
seven  or  more  persons  may  be  registered,  and  the  sec- 
tion goes  on  to  enact  that  after  registration  they  shall 
form  an  incorporated  company,  with  or  without  limited 
liability.  The  first  part  of  the  section  is  reenacted  in 
the  Trade  Union  Act  (in  sect.  6)  of  1871,  but  the 
last  part  about  incorporation  is  pointedly  omitted.  .  .  . 
It  is  true  that  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Railway 
Servants  is  the  registered  name  of  the  trade-union 
sued,  but  how  does  this  fact  of  itself,  without  more, 
render  the  society  an  entity  capable  of  being  sued  in 
that  name  ?  The  mere  registration  has  no  such  effect. 
Mr.  Justice  Farwell  does  not  suggest  in  his  judgment 
that  in  the  Trade  Union  Acts  he  can  find  any  sections 
in  terms  authorizing  an  action  against  a  trade-union  in 
its  registered  name,  or  that  by  the  Acts  trade-unions 
are  incorporated.  But  the  learned  judge  says  the  le- 
gislature has  legalized  it  —  i.  e.,  the  trade-union  —  and 
it  must  be  dealt  with  by  the  courts  according  to  the 
intention  of  the  legislature.  The  learned  judge  says  : 
'  Although  a  corporation  and  an  individual  or  indi- 
viduals may  be  the  only  entities  knowTi  to  the  common 
law  who  can  sue  or  be  sued,  it  is  competent  to  the  legis- 


188    INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS 

lature  to  give  to  an  association  of  individuals,  which 
is  neither  a  corporation  nor  a  partnership  nor  an  indi- 
vidual, a  capacity  for  owning  property  and  acting  by 
agents  ;  and  such  capacity,  in  the  absence  of  express 
enactment  to  the  contrary,  involves  the  necessary  cor- 
relative of  liability,  to  the  extent  of  such  property,  for 
the  acts  and  defaults  of  such  agents,  —  in  other 
words,  the  liability  of  being  sued  in  its  registered 
name.'  It  is  with  regard  to  this  last  paragraph,  which 
is  the  basis  of  the  judgment,  that,  with  all  submission, 
we  cannot  agree.  When  once  one  gets  an  entity  not 
known  to  the  law,  —  and  therefore  incapable  of  being 
sued,  —  in  our  judgment,  to  enable  such  an  entity  to  be 
sued,  an  enactment  must  be  found,  either  express  or 
implied,  enabling  this  to  be  done  ;  and  it  is  not  correct 
to  say  that  such  an  entity  can  be  sued  unless  there  be 
found  an  express  enactment  to  the  contrary.  Where, 
in  the  Trade  Union  Acts,  is  to  be  found  any  enact- 
ment, express  or  implied,  that  a  trade-union  is  to  be 
sued  in  its  registered  name?  Express  there  is  none, 
and  it  is  clear  that  a  trade-imion  is  not  made  a  corpo- 
ration. ...  In  our  judgment  this  has  not  been  omitted 
in  error.  .  .  .  Moreover,  by  section  9  of  the  Act  of 
1871,  it  is  expressly  enacted  that  the  trustees  of  a 
trade-union  registered  under  the  Act,  or  any  other  of- 
ficer of  the  miion  who  may  be  authorized  to  do  so  by 
the  rules,  may  bring  or  defend  any  action  in  any  court 
of  law  touching  the  property  of  the  trade-union,  —  a 
most  remarkable  section  if,  as  is  argued  for  the  plain- 
tiffs and  held  by  the  learned  judge,  the  purview  of 
the  Act  is  that  a  trade-union  can  be  sued  in  its  regis- 
tered name.  If  this  were  so,  what  is  the  good  of  this 
section  expressly  enabling  the  trustees  or  other  officer 


INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS    189 

of  the  union  to  sue  or  be  sued  in  respect  of  property  ? 
We  can  find  nothing  in  the  Acts  wherefrom  the  infer- 
ence is  to  be  drawn  that  the  legislature  has  enacted 
that  a  trade-union  can  be  sued  in  its  registered  name, 
but,  by  reason  of  the  language  of  the  Acts,  and  what 
is  omitted  therefrom,  if  necessary,  we  shoidd  find  the 
exact  contrary.  In  our  judgment,  for  the  reasons 
above,  a  trade-union  cannot  be  sued  as  is  now  at- 
tempted." 

The  opinions  in  the  House  of  Lords  are  not  argu- 
mentative, but  merely  affirmative  of  the  opinion  by 
Mr.  Justice  Farwell.^  Lord  Justice  Lindley  makes  a 
brief  reference  to  the  fact  that,  as  the  legal  title  to 
the  funds  and  property  of  registered  trade-unions  is 
vested  in  trustees,  it  may  require  suit  on  the  judgment 
before  such  property  could  be  reached  to  satisfy  any 
claim  for  damages  which  might  be  recovered  against 
the  trade-union. 

The  precise  question  decided  in  the  Taff  Vale  case 
was  one  of  pleading,  and  so  it  appears  to  be  understood 
by  the  English  courts.  The  case  is  cited  and  followed 
in  Giblan  v.  National,  etc.,  Laborers  Union  in  an  opin- 
ion by  Mr.  Justice  Walton,  w^ho  says  :  — 

"  As  was  explained  in  the  case  of  Taff  Vale  Kail- 
way  V.  Amalgamated  Society  of  Railway  Servants,  a 
trade-union  is  a  collective  name  for  a  number  of  persons 
acting  for  certain  purposes  in  concert.  If  such  per- 
sons, so  acting  in  concert,  commit  an  actionable  wrong, 
the  person  injured  by  such  wrong  can  maintain  an  ac- 
tion against  them  just  as  he  would  against  other  joint 
tort  feasors  ;  and  so  far  as  the  form  of  the  action  is 

^  They  are  by  the  Earl  of  Halsbury,  L.  C,  and  Lords  Justice  Mac- 
haghten,  Shand,  Brampton,  and  Lindley. 


190    INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS 

concerned,  it  may  be  brought  against  either  represen- 
tative defendants,  who,  as  Lord  Macnaghten  said  in 
the  Taff  Vale  case,  fairly  represent  the  whole  body,  or 
they  may  be  sued  in  and  by  their  collective  name  — 
that  is  to  say,  in  the  name  of  the  union.  It  must  there- 
fore be  remembered  that  the  '  union  '  which  is  made  a 
defendant  in  an  action  is  not  a  corporation  or  legal 
person,  but  is  really  the  whole  body  of  individual  mem- 
bers of  the  union,  described  for  convenience  by  their 
collective  name."  ^ 

It  appears  that  the  suggestion  of  Lord  Justice 
Lindley  was  adopted  by  the  plaintiffs,  and  that  their 
pleadings  were  amended  so  as  to  include  as  defendants 
the  names  of  the  trustees  of  the  property  and  funds  of 
the  association.  Accordingly,  the  case  came  on  regularly 
for  trial  on  December  19,  1902,  under  the  title  of  The 
Taff  Vale  Railway  Company  v.  The  Amalgamated 
Society  of  Railway  Servants,  Richard  BeU,  general 
secretary,  James  Holmes,  organizing  secretary,  and 
Philip  Hewlett,  George  Walock,  and  John  Pilcher,  as 
trustees  of  said  association.  The  trial  was  had  before 
Mr.  Justice  Wills  and  a  special  jury  in  the  King's 
Bench  Division.  The  claim  for  damages  amounted  to 
,£24,626.  After  hearing  the  testimony  and  the  argu- 
ments of  covinsel,  the  trial  court  submitted  three  ques- 
tions, to  which  the  jury  returned  answers  within  ten 
minutes  without  leaving  the  box.  These  questions  and 
the  answers  thereto  were  as  follows  :  — 

Question  1.  "  Did  the  defendants  conspire  together 
to  molest  the  plaintiffs  by  unlawful  means  ?  "  Answer. 
"  Yes."  Question  2.  "  Did  they  or  any  of  them  per- 
suade the  men  whose  notices  had  not  expired  to  break 
^  (No  official  report.)     Law  Times  report,  vol.  xviii.  p.  500. 


INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL    UNIONS    191 

their  contracts?"  Answer.  "Yes,  all  of  them." 
Question  3.  "  Did  they  or  any,  and  which,  of  them  au- 
thorize and  assist  in  carrying  out  the  strike  by  unlaw- 
ful means  ?  "  Answer.  "•  Yes,  all  of  them."  By  agree- 
ment of  counsel,  the  assessment  of  damages  was  left  to 
the  court.  1  The  injunction  was  continued  against  all 
of  the  defendants. 

Mr.  Justice  Wills,  in  his  remarks  to  the  jury,  used 
the  following  language  :  — 

"  Strikes  are  dangerous  things.  Here  was  an  army 
of  1,200  excited  men  without  sectional  leaders  under 
Bell's  command.  It  was  childish  to  say  that  the  lead- 
ers were  not  responsible  for  the  acts  of  the  men  under 
their  orders  because  they  did  not  order  the  particular 
acts.  Frankenstein  created  a  monster  which  went  about 
doing  damage.  If  Frankenstein  had  been  sued  for 
that  damage  in  an  English  court  of  law,  coidd  he  have 
escaped  hability  on  the  plea  that  he  was  not  responsible? 
No  doubt.  Bell  and  Holmes  approved  of  the  violence 
committed  and  the  damage  done  no  more  than  Frank- 
enstein did,  but  that  did  not  afford  an  escape  for  legal 
liability.  Then  the  Blackleg  Circular  was  a  most  im- 
portant document.  '  Blackleg  '  was,  among  the  work- 
ingmen,  a  word  of  terror,  and  as  a  word  of  terror  it 
was  used  in  those  circidars.  '  Intimidation  '  had  been 
confined  by  judicial  decision  to  that  which  raised  a 
reasonable  apj)rehension  of  personal  violence.  Did  not 
the  reference  of  being  known  as  a  '  blackleg '  amount 
to  a  threat  ?  And  these  acts  of  violence  were  in  some 
cases  reported  to  the  committee-room  as  a  triumph." 

^  The  company  agreed  to  accept  £23,000  as  a  settlement  of  all  claims. 
The  society  paid  out  some  £27,000  more  in  the  case,  for  costs  of 
both  sides.  After  paying  this  £50,000,  the  society  had  in  its  treasury 
£274,000. 


192    INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS 

In  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Steffee,  tlie  writer  of  the  arti- 
cle here  currently  quoted  ("  American  Law  Review  "), 
the  decision  in  the  Taff  Vale  case  "  is  a  just  one  in  so 
far  as  it  fearlessly  sustains  the  principle  that  the  test 
of  civil  liability  for  damages  is  whether  the  injury  was 
the  natural  incident  or  outgrowth  of  the  existing  rela- 
tion of  the  party  doing  the  injury  to  the  condition  out 
of  which  the  act  arose  (Cooke  on  "  Trade  and  Labor 
Combinations,"  1898,  sec.  2,  and  cases  cited)  ;  in  so  far 
as  it  discards  the  question  of  intent  to  injure  as  con- 
stituting an  element  of  civil  liability;  in  so  far  as  it 
fixes  the  liability  upon  the  whole  body  of  the  organiza- 
tion which  by  its  authorized  agents  and  leaders  produced 
the  damage ;  in  so  far  as  it  holds  that,  inasmuch  as 
the  property  of  the  defendant  association  was  held  as 
a  general  fund  subject  to  be  used  wholly,  if  necessary, 
in  the  furtherance  of  a  strike,  the  damages  which  may 
be  assessed  are  properly  made  payable  out  of  such  fund ; 
and  in  so  far  as  it  places  trade-unions  on  an  equality 
before  the  law  with  defendants  of  other  classes  who  are 
liable  to  be  sued  as  such  in  their  collective  names  with- 
out resorting  to  the  expensive  and  generally  abortive 
method  of  suing  a  large  body  as  joint  tort  feasors. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  question  arises,  was  the  de- 
cision appropriate  to  the  conditions  and  circumstances 
which  brought  the  case  before  the  court?  Is  it  not 
judge-made  law?  The  Master  of  the  Rolls  pointed 
out  in  his  decision  that  the  power  to  create  a  new  legal 
entity  liable  to  be  sued  as  such  is  vested  in  the  legis- 
lature. Is  not  this  decision  an  encroachment  upon  the 
legislative  department  of  the  government  ?  Would  not 
the  same  arguments  as  those  employed  by  Mr.  Justice 
Farwell  and  the  House  of  Lords  apply  with  equal  force 


INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL    UNIONS    193 

to  unincorporated  social  clubs,  beneficial  societies,  re- 
ligious organizations,  and  other  associate  bodies,  which 
might  sanction  acts  of  certain  of  their  members  from 
which  damages  to  the  property  or  business  of  another 
had  resulted  ?  The  opinions  of  Mr.  Justice  Farwell 
and  of  the  Lords  Justices  manifest  impatience,  if  not 
prejudice,  arising  out  of  the  economics  of  the  condition 
produced  by  the  strike  and  the  methods  employed  by 
the  strike  leaders  to  enforce  their  demands.  The  lan- 
guage used  by  Mr.  Justice  Wills,  in  his  instructions  to 
the  jury,  is  severe  and  uncalled  for.^  " 

The  lay  mind  will  doubtless  coincide  with  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Webb  in  the  belief  that  this  famous  decision,  if 
taken  as  simple  construction  of  the  existing  statutes,  is 
bad  law,  since  plainly  nothing  was  farther  from  the 
mind  of  Parliament  in  1871  than  to  grant  such  powers 
of  suing  and  being  sued.^ 

1  Mr.  Steffee  cites  the  case  as  follows  :  Taff  Vale  Railway  v.  Amal- 
gamated Society  of  Railway  Servants,  70  L.  J.  K.  B.  905 ;  rev'ng 
s.  c.  (1901)  A.  C.  426  ;  s.  c.  (1901)  1  K.  B.  170;  s.  c.  70  L.  J.  K.  B. 
219;  and  also  refers  to  the  London  Times  (daily)  of  December  20, 
1902. 

2  See  Mr.  George  Howell's  statement  in  Trade-Union  Law,  pp.  3{^ 
41 :  "  The  question  of  picketing'  was  not  raised  or  referred  to  in  the 
Court  of  Appeal  ;  the  judgment  dealt  with  the  liability  and  responsi- 
bility of  the  Union,  as  such,  in  an  action  at  law  involving  damages  — 
suing  and  being  sued  as  a  registered  body.  As  to  the  intention  of  the 
Legislature  in  this  respect  I  can  speak  with  some  aiithority,  as  I  had 
more  to  do  with  the  negotiations  respecting  the  enactment  of  the 
Trade  Union  Acts,  1871  and  1876,  during  their  passage  through  both 
Houses  of  Parliament,  than  any  other  living  man.  The  Members  of 
Parliament  who  were  more  or  less  the  exponents  of  the  views  of  trade- 
unipnists  at  that  period  were  Mr.  Thomas  Hughes  —  the  late  Judge 
Hughes ;  the  late  Mr.  A.  J.  Mundella  ;  the  late  Sir  James  Stansfeld, 
and  Mr.  William  Rathbone,  who  is,  I  am  glad  to  say,  still  living.  Lord 
James  of  Hereford  and  Sir  William  Harcourt  had  more  to  do  person- 
ally with  the  Laboiir  Laws,  and  the  Trade  Union  Act,  1870,  together 
with  the  repeal  of  the  Criminal  Law  Amendment  Act,  1871  ;  but  in- 


194    INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL   UNIONS 

The  "  Observations  "  by  the  Duke  of  Devonshire 
and  others,  recently  quoted,  are  based  largely  upon  the 
same  construction  of  the  trade-union  laws  pronounced 

cidentally  they  were  cognizant  of  the  trend  of  workmen's  opinion  in 
respect  of  all  the  above. 

"  In  my  interviews  with  tlie  then  Home  Secretary,  Sir  Henry  Austin 
Bruce,  afterwards  Lord  Aberdare,  and  they  were  many,  some  of  which 
were  private,  at  the  residences  of  Sir  James  Stansfeld  and  Sir  William 
Rathbone,  others  by  public  deputation  at  the  Home  Office,  or  inter- 
views at  the  House  of  Commons,  the  question  of  empowering  Trade 
Unions  to  sue  and  to  be  sued  was  often  and  often  discussed.  Some 
few  were  in  favour  of  embodying  such  power  in  the  Trade  Union  Bill, 
but  the  vast  preponderating  opinion  was  averse  to  it.  Any  provision 
of  that  nature  was  intentionally  left  out ;  the  Home  Secretary  being 
quite  as  strong  on  that  point  as  Messrs.  Hughes,  Mundella,  J.  Hinde 
Palmer,  Serjeant  Simon,  and,  so  far  as  my  memory  serves  me,  the  late 
Lord  Coleridge.  The  representatives  of  labour  and  officials  of  Trade 
Unions,  whose  mouthpiece  I  then  was,  were  strongly  averse  to  any 
clause  being  in  the  Bill  which  would  open  the  door  to  litigation.  In 
this  the  Government  concurred.  The  absence,  therefore,  of  any  ex- 
press power  enabling  a  Union  to  sue  or  to  be  sued  was  intentional  on  the 
part  of  the  authors  of  the  measure,  and  that  intention  was  indorsed  in 
the  passage  of  the  Bill  through  Parliament.  Of  course,  the  above  re- 
marks only  relate  to  intention.  From  a  legal  point  of  view  the  Courts 
decide  upon  the  facts  of  the  case  and  the  language  of  the  statute, 
rather  than  upon  the  intention." 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb  say:  "There  has  seldom  been  an  instance  in 
which  a  judicial  decision  has  so  completely  and  extensively  reversed 
the  previous  legal  opinions,  and  we  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  the  conscious 
intention,  thirty  years  before,  of  Parliament  itseK."  (Industrial 
Democracy,  Introduction  to  the  1902  edition,  p.  xxvi.)  So,  too. 
Professor  Ashley  :  "  From  a  purely  historical  point  of  view,  consider- 
ing the  form  of  the  Act  of  1871  and  the  circumstances  of  its  origin,  I 
must  confess  that  the  argument  of  the  Master  of  the  Rolls  seems  to  me 
unanswerable."  But,  he  continues,  "  From  the  point  of  view  of  sheer 
logicality,  the  same  is  to  be  said,  I  think,  for  the  arguments  of  Mr. 
Justice  Farwell  and  the  Law  Lords.  For  once  logic  triumphed,  almost 
ostentatiously,  one  may  say,  over  history.  .  .  .  Tlie  logicality  of  the 
judgment  is  now  recognized  even  by  the  eminent  counsel  whose  busi- 
ness it  was  to  maintain  the  opposite  before  the  court,  and  it  seems  to 
commend  itself,  generally,  to  the  legal  profession."  ( The  Adjustment 
of  Wages,  p.  176.)  The  American  bar,  so  far  as  it  has  expressed  itself 
on  the  matter,  seems  to  be  of  the  same  opinion  (see  p.  173  ). 


INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL  UNIONS     195 

later  by  the  Master  of  the  Rolls.  But  the  unanimous 
decision  of  the  five  law  lords  is  the  supreme  law  of  the 
land  until  it  is  overridden  by  some  new  and  express  act 
of  Parliament.  The  efforts  of  English  trade-unionists 
in  the  next  election  will  probably  be  directed  toward 
the  choice  of  candidates  pledged  to  the  passage  of  a  law 
virtually  setting  aside  the  House  of  Lords'  decision. 
In  the  interest  of  industrial  peace  it  is  to  be  hoped, 
however,  that  wiser  counsels  will  prevail,  that  the  trade- 
unionists  wiU  accept  the  situation,  and  be  content  with 
a  much-needed  clearing-up  of  the  laws  otherwise  affect- 
ing the  unions. 1  A  battle  royal  on  this  subject  might 
possibly  result  in  the  passage  of  some  such  law  as  the 
Duke  of  Devonshire  and  his  seven  colleagues  desired 
in  the  "  Observations."  That  the  question  shall  be  de- 
cided on  its  essential  merits,  and  not  merely  in  accord- 
ance with  some  temporary  political  alliance  is  an  issue 
greatly  to  be  desired. 

Another  case  of  minor  interest  beside  the  Taff  Vale 
Railway  decision,  but  still  of  importance  as  showing 
the  trend  of  the  law  to-day,  is  the  Denaby  case,  in  which 
Mr.  Justice  Grantham  held  that  "  a  member  of  a  imion 

1  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  the  Royal  Commission  appointed  in 
1903, "  To  inquire  into  the  subject  of  Trade  Disputes  and  Trade  Com- 
binations and  as  to  the  law  affecting  them,  and  to  report  on  the  law 
applicable  to  the  same  and  the  effect  of  any  modifications  thereof," 
was  not  more  wisely  constituted.  The  English  trade-unionists  com- 
plain that  "  one  of  the  most  militant  of  employers  "  is  to  be  found  on 
the  Commission,  but  not  a  single  representative  of  labor,  —  Mr.  Sidney 
Webb  not  being  accepted  by  them  as  in  fact  a  representative.  The 
last  Trade-Union  Congress  passed  a  resolution  practically  boycotting 
the  Commission.  The  following  are  the  members  of  tlie  Commission  : 
The  Rt.  Hon.  Andrew  Graham  Murray,  M.  P.,  Lord  Advocate  (chair- 
man), Sir  Williana  Thomas  Lewis,  Bart.,  Sir  Godfrey  Lushington, 
G.  C.  M.  G.,  K.  C.  B.,  Arthur  Cohen,  Esq.,  K.  C,  and  Sidney  Webb, 
Esq. 


196     INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL  UNIONS 

can  obtain  an  injunction  against  the  society  to  prevent 
the  spending  of  its  fimds  contrary  to  its  rules,  on  the 
ground  that  membership  under  the  rules  involves  a 
contract  which  can  be  enforced."  ^  Such  a  view  goes 
still  further  toward  bringing  trade-unions,  as  now  con^ 
stituted,  into  line  with  corporations  which  have  trust 
funds,  whose  "  essential  quality  .  .  .  viewed  negatively 
.  .  .  consists  in  the  absence  of  complete  ownership, 
with  the  power  of  arbitrary  disposal,  in  any  person."  ^ 
In  December,  1903,  the  principle  of  the  TafP  Vale 
Railway  case  was  applied  to  Franklin  Union,  No.  4,  of 
Press-feeders  in  Chicago.  A  verdict  was  found  against  it 
for  illegal  picketing,  in  disobedience  of  an  injunction, 
and  it  was  fined  as  a  corporation.  The  boycott  suits 
pending  at  Danbury,  Connecticut,  may  furnish  another 
instance  of  such  use  of  ordinary  law. 

The  firmest  believers  in  the  intrinsic  rationality  of 
the  trade-union  principle  (myself  among  them)  must 
hold  that  the  unions  in  fact  commit  a  grievous  error  in 
their  opposition  to  incorporation  as  legal  persons  capa- 
ble of  suing  if  injured,  and  of  being  sued  if  injuring 
others,  or  breaking  contracts  with  them  —  a  right  prob- 
ably as  ancient  as  the  Twelve  Tables.  (These  con- 
tracts, of  course,  cannot  be  legally  bindmg  unless  the 
unions  are  incorporated.)  In  this  opposition  they  are 
without  the  support  of  the  great  mass  of  friendly  econo- 
mists, who  believe  that  nothmg  would  be  more  whole- 
some for  the  trade-unions  than  to  have  their  responsi- 
bility evened  up  to  their  power.  Great  power  for  good 
or  harm  they  have  already,  but  responsibility  for  harm 
they  disclaim.    The  public  conscience  will  not  be  long 

^  Ashley,  p.  178  ;  an  appeal  has  been  taken  from  this  decision. 
2  H.  O,  Taylor,  on  Private  Corporations,  sec.  62. 


INCORPORATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL  UNIONS    197 

in  pronouncing  with  the  economists  on  this  plain  issue 
of  morals.  There  is  to-day  a  crying  social  need  for 
more  responsibility  in  labor  disputes.  Incorporation 
corresponds  to  this  need.  When  the  trade-unions  repent 
of  their  illogical  and  immoral  unwillingness  to  become 
incorporated,  and  take  their  right  position  as  corpora- 
tions in  that  collective  bargaining  which  is  to  be  more 
and  more  the  custom  of  the  future,  the  prospect  for  in- 
dustrial peace  will  be  much  brighter  than  it  is  to-day. 


CHAPTER  VII 

ATMS    AND   METHODS    OF   TRADE-UNIONISM 

The  ideals  and  ambitions  which  active,  honest,  intel- 
ligent men  in  the  trade-unions  cherish  are  ideals  and 
ambitions  which  have  been  realized  to  a  considerable 
degree  in  the  advantages  which  many  professional  men 
and  others  already  enjoy.  It  is  no  part  of  a  high  ideal 
for  the  clergyman,  the  teacher,  or  the  workingman, 
that  he  shall  become  rich,  but  it  is  a  just  ambition  of 
every  man  that  he  and  his  family  shall  have  a  com- 
fortable human  existence ;  that  he  shall  obtain  the  or- 
dinary pleasures  of  civilized  life  ;  that  he  shall,  above 
all,  reap  increasingly  those  benefits  of  education,  cul- 
ture, and  refinement  which,  from  their  very  nature, 
cannot  be  a  monopoly  of  the  rich.  Workingmen  are 
reachino;  out  for  these  desirable  things  more  and  more 
eagerly.  They  wish  to  see  their  present  standard  of 
living  gradually  raised,  and  the  industrious  worker  as- 
sured of  a  minimmn  wage  that  shall  procure  him  com- 
fort, at  least,  under  a  conmion  rule  for  the  industry. 
It  is  the  interest  of  every  society  that  the  conditions 
of  industry  should  leave  ample  room  for  talent  and 
character  among  working  people  to  assert  themselves, 
that  they  may  recruit  the  ranks  of  trade,  commerce, 
and  the  professions,  and  cultivate  every  field  of  civili- 
zation. Trade-imionism  is  the  chief  tool  of  the  modern 
worker  with  which  he  would  gratify  his  ambitions.    It 


AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM    199 

is  easy  to  exaggerate  what  it  has  accomplished.  Nearly 
all  the  popular  writers  on  the  trade-union  side  do  this 
to  an  extreme  extent.  Mr.  Herbert  N.  Casson,  for 
example,  in  his  forcible  little  book  on  "  Organized 
Self  Help,"  attributes  to  trade-unions  practically  all 
the  advances  which  the  workingman  has  made  in  the 
last  century  and  a  half.  Lecky,  in  his  "Democracy 
and  Liberty"  (vol.  ii.  pp.  432  f.),  was  justified  in 
making  great  abatements  from  these  clamis,  on  the 
authority  of  such  writers  as  Jevons  and  Lord  Bras- 
sey.^  No  fair-minded  person  can  doubt,  however,  that 
trade-unionism  is  one  of  the  greatest  achievements  of 
modern  workmen,  adopting  the  policy  of  "  together." 
The  limitations  of  the  power  of  the  trade-unions 
are  easily  visible  to  the  instructed  economist.  With 
all  his  friendliness  toward  the  principle  of  combina- 
tion, he  sees  that  trade-unionism  is  an  instrument 
which  must  be  used  with  great  discretion,  if  it  is  to 
do  more  good  than  harm.  To  reach  the  best  results, 
it  should  be  in  the  hands  of  the  wisest  workingmen, 


^  Herr  von  Nostitz,  in  his  able  work  on  the  Ascent  of  the  Working 
Classes  in  England  (Jena,  1900),  declares  that  this  is  not  to  be  attribu- 
ted to  any  one  cause ;  that  religious,  moral,  educational,  and  hygienic, 
as  well  as  economic  and  political  influences  have  played  their  part. 
The  chief  factors  of  progress  have  been  three  ;  first,  the  great  work- 
ing-class institutions  for  self-help,  —  trade-unions,  friendly  societies, 
and  cooperative  societies ;  second,  the  assistance  given  by  members 
of  the  upper  classes,  such  as  Robert  Owen,  Lord  Sliaftesbury,  and 
the  Christian  Socialists,  and  the  influence  of  writers  like  Carlyle  and 
Ruskin ;  and,  third,  legislation  and  the  action  of  public  authorities. 
Herr  von  Nostitz  might  well  have  added  to  these  factors  the  influence 
of  science  and  invention.  The  application  of  electricity  as  a  motive- 
power  on  street  cars,  for  instance,  has  probably  done  far  more  to  en- 
able work-people  to  live  under  wholesome  conditions,  at  a  distance 
from  their  work,  than  the  efforts  of  many  trade-unions  in  the  same 
direction. 


200    AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM 

the  aristocracy  of  their  kind  :  certainly  it  is  not  a  pan- 
acea, any  more  than  it  is  a  tool  for  boys.^ 

Mr.  Clarence  S.  Darrow  has  recently  been  remind- 
ing organized  workingmen,  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
utmost  friendliness,  of  the  common  danger  of  too  great 
self-assertion  on  the  part  of  the  unions.  The  warning 
has  been  very  much  needed  in  the  United  States  in  1903. 
It  is  most  important  that  the  trade-unions  should  dis' 
abuse  their  minds  of  the  idea  that  they  are  the  only 
factor  of  consequence  in  advancing  the  condition  of 
workingmen.  Trade-unionism  is  properly  conceived  as 
a  permanent  movement  of  workingmen,  guided  by  a 
large  self-interest,  toward  the  gradual  improvement  of 
their  condition.  The  large  indirect  results  of  such  as- 
sociation are  not  for  a  moment  to  be  undervalued,  but 
the  main  motive  should  be  frankly  confessed,  and  this 
is  the  self-interest  of  a  class.  Every  class  knows  its 
own  interests  best,  and  should  be  able  to  work  freely 
toward  the  realization  of  them.  The  right  of  combi- 
nation is  now  fully  conceded  to  the  workingmen  of 
to-day.  They  must  be  held,  therefore,  strictly  respon- 
sible for  the  manner  in  which  they  exercise  the  right, 
and  their  best  friends  are  those  who  remind  them 
most  emphatically  of  the  abuses  of  this  right  which 

^  Report  of  the  Anthracite  Coal  Strike  Commission,  p.  65  :  "  We 
believe  it  is  unwise  and  impolitic  to  permit  boys  of  immature  age 
and  judgment  to  participate  in  deciding  the  policy  and  actions  of  a 
labor  union.  We  think  that  no  one  should  have  such  voice  in  the  af- 
fairs of  a  union,  until  he  has  reached  his  legal  majority.  Those  affairs 
are  momentous,  and  are  of  growing  importance.  They  should  be  di- 
rected by  men  who  have  a  realizing  sense  of  the  responsibilities  of 
life,  both  as  to  family,  as  to  associates,  and  as  a  society.  This  does 
not  mean,  of  course,  that  minors  should  not  belong  to  the  union,  but 
they  should  not  act  as,  nor  vote  for,  delegates  to  conventions  which 
consider  or  determine  strikes." 


AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM    201 

they  attempt  to  commit.  If  a  large  number  of  them 
choose  to  combine  for  the  gradual  elevation  of  their 
lot  in  ways  that  seem  best  to  them,  other  workmen 
should  be  allowed  by  them,  as  by  society  in  general, 
to  abstain  from  such  combination,  or  to  combine  in 
other  ways  if  they  see  fit.  This  is  the  simple  doc- 
trine of  "fair  play"  for  all,  —  a  doctrine  not  to  be 
obscured  by  sophistical  claims  by  the  unions  that  they 
are  the  one  true  church  of  labor,  beyond  wliich  there 
is  no  salvation. 

The  programme  of  labor  reform,  like  the  pro- 
grammes of  other  reforms,  is  not  to  be  carried  out  by 
leaps  and  bounds  ;  it  can  only  be  accomplished  by  slow, 
steady  pressure  upon  the  employers  of  labor  to  get  for 
the  workingman  his  fit  and  fair  share  of  the  whole 
product  of  the  industry.  What  is  "  fit "  and  what  is 
"  fair  "  cannot  be  determined  by  abstract  reasoning, 
or  by  purely  moral  consideration.  It  will  be  deter- 
mined by  reasonable  men  through  calm  and  sober 
negotiations  between  the  parties  concerned,  and  the 
processes  of  ordinary  reasoning ;  to  use  an  expressive 
phrase  of  the  economist,  by  the  "  higgling  of  the  mar- 
ket." 

When  we  consider  the  fundamental  aims  of  the 
trade-unions,  we  see  that  the  ideal  of  the  intelligent 
workman  is,  in  a  few  words,  the  steady  improvement  of 
his  economic  and  social  condition.  He  sees  himself 
surrounded  by  persons  and  classes  more  comfortably 
situated  than  himself  as  regards  the  good  things  of 
civilization,  and  his  natural  ambition  for  himself  and 
his  family  is  first  of  all  to  gain  a  larger  income,  which 
shall  make  his  .life  easier  and  more  enjoyable.  Mr. 
Frank  K.  Foster,  a  prominent  trade-union  leader  of 


202    ATMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM 

Boston,  well  said,  in  a  paper  read  before  the  fifteenth 
annual  meeting  of  the  American  Economic  Association, 
in  December,  1902  :  "  To  obtain  a  fair  return  for  use- 
ful labor,  to  be  able  to  provide  for  times  of  sickness 
and  old  age,  to  place  those  dependent  upon  one  in  se- 
curity against  want,  to  obtain  sufficient  leisure  to 
enable  one  to  lay  hold  of  things  which  make  the  possi- 
bilities of  human  life  larger  than  those  of  the  existence 
of  the  brute  creation,  —  these  things  are  the  univer- 
sal desire  of  civilized  men,  as  well  as  the  objects 
sought  to  be  attained  by  trade-unionists."  Using 
"  aims  "  as  synonymous  with  "  ideals,"  the  preamble 
to  the  present  constitution  of  the  Knights  of  Labor 
states  these  aims  in  substantially  the  same  language 
as  that  which  Mr.  Foster  used,  and  I  may  quote 
them  as  a  more  official  utterance.  (The  Knights  have 
been  more  given  to  comprehensive  statements  of  the 
theory  of  trade-unions  than  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor  has  been.)  "  We  declare  to  the  world,"  says 
this  preamble,  "  that  our  aims  are :  I.  To  make  in- 
dustrial and  moral  worth,  not  wealth,  the  true  stand- 
ard of  individual  and  national  greatness.  II.  To 
secure  to  the  workers  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  wealth 
they  create  ;  sufficient  leisure  in  which  to  develop  their 
intellectual,  moral,  and  social  faculties  ;  all  of  the  ben- 
efits, recreations,  and  pleasures  of  association  ;  in  a 
word,  to  enable  them  to  share  in  the  gains  and  honors 
of  advancing  civilization."  "In  order  to  secui-e  these  re- 
sults we  demand  at  the  hands  of  the  law-making  power 
of  municipalities.  States,  and  nation  "  —  and  then  fol- 
lows, in  the  remaining  twenty-two  articles  of  the  pre- 
amble, a  long  list  of  specific  reforms,  political  as  well 
as  industrial,  which  the  Knights  of  Labor  deem  legiti- 


AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM    203 

mate  deductions  from  this  broad  statement  of  their 
aims. 

To  put  the  matter,  however,  more  briefly  and  less 
politically,  the  present  ideal  of  the  trade-unionists  em- 
braces three  particular  concrete  reforms  of  the  first 
importance  to  their  welfare.  The  first  is  a  steady  rise 
in  wages  to  the  highest  point  at  any  time  to  which  the 
pressure  of  "  organized  labor  "  can  bring  the  employer. 
The  second  is  a  gradual  shortening  of  the  working 
day  to  eight  hoiu-s.  The  third  is  the  improvement  of 
the  general  conditions  of  labor  in  the  direction  of  safety, 
sanity,  and  convenience.  For  the  last  ten  years^the 
first  of  these  demands  has  usually  been  called  the  de- 
mand for  "  the  living  wage,"  or  "  a  fair  day's  wage," 
as  the  one  means  of  raising  "  the  standard  of  life." 
The  second  has  led  to  "  the  eight-hour  movement." 
The  third  embraces  a  great  variety  of  matters  which 
have  been  included  in  the  "  factory  legislation "  of 
England  and  America. 

These  concrete  reforms  the  trade-unionist  seeks  to 
accomplish  by  certain  methods  which  might  be  called 
his  secondary  aims,  as  they  are  used  purely  to  bring 
about  the  accomplishment  of  the  primary  amis.  The 
unionist  desires  to  see  the  trade-union  in  his  own  trade 
in  complete  control  of  the  supply  of  labor  for  that 
trade.  His  method,  therefore,  in  this  direction  is  the 
formation  of  a  labor  trust,  a  combination  of  working- 
men  mtended  to  be  at  least  as  effectual  as  any  that 
has  been  formed  in  the  field  of  production.  This  class 
aim  is  one  to  be  expected,  and  the  attempt  to  establish 
a  monopoly  of  labor  is  as  natural  as  the  attempt  to 
establish  a  monopoly  in  any  line  of  production.  The 
trade-union  and  the  trust,  apart  from  the  abuses  of 


204    AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM 

association,  are  incoutestably  natural  developments. 
When  the  workers  in  any  trade  are  well  "  organized," 
the  unionist  takes  his  stand  decisively  for  the  principle 
of  "  collective  bargaining,"  ruling  out  as  illegitimate 
the  claims  of  any  member  of  the  union  to  bargain 
with  the  employer  for  himself.  This  method,  again, 
is  entirely  logical  and  in  accordance  with  the  move- 
ment of  modern  industry.  Collective  bargaining,  de- 
veloped to  its  highest  power  in  covering  an  entire  trade 
in  a  given  country,  implies  that  the  trade  shall  be  gov- 
erned by  a  "  common  rule,"  in  the  phrase  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Webb.  The  common  ride  is  a  necessary  deduction 
from  the  method  of  collective  bargaining ;  in  fairness 
the  same  regulations  which  prevail  in  one  locality  in  a 
certain  trade  should  be  extended,  so  far  as  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case  allow,  to  all  other  localities  in  the 
same  country  and  to  all  members  of  the  same  trade. 
A  fundamental  principle  of  the  common  rule  is  the 
effort  to  raise  the  standard  of  living  by  fixing  a  "  min- 
imum wage "  for  less  than  which  the  trade-unionist 
will  not  work,  except  in  cases  of  manifest  inability  to 
earn  so  high  a  wage  —  and  such  cases  may  be  included 
in  special  arrangements.  This  minimum  wage  is  the 
sum  demanded  by  the  union  in  its  negotiations  with 
the  employer  :  it  is  an  amount  which  will  allow  the 
thrifty  workingman  to  provide  for  himself  and  a 
family  of  average  size  the  necessaries  of  life  and  a  de- 
cent share  of  its  comforts.  Only  in  times  of  extreme 
stress  will  he  contemplate  the  surrender  of  any  of  the 
ordinary  comforts  of  life  which  have  been  enjoyed  by 
his  class  for  years  and  have  thus  become  a  portion  of 
their  well-recognized  "  standard  of  life."  From  the 
point  of  view  of  the  impartial  spectator  it  is  certainly 


AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM    205 

good  policy  for  the  trade-unionists  to  seek  to  impress 
strongly  upon  the  mind  of  the  employer  the  necessity 
of  this  minimum  wage,  and  to  extirpate  from  that 
mind  the  notion  that  he  can  with  real  profit  to  him- 
self reduce  wages  to  the  point  of  securing  only  the 
bare  necessities  of  life.^ 

Combination,  collective  bargaining,  the  common 
rule,  and  the  minimum  wage  are  thus  parts  of  a  sound 
trade-union  theory.  They  are  commending  themselves 
more  and  more  to  the  impartial  judgment  of  modern 
economists  and  sociologists.    These  students  see  that  a 

^  Ricardo's  greatly  misunderstood  "  iron  law  of  wages  "  may  be  re- 
ferred to  here.  In  his  Principles  of  Political  Economy,  eh.  v.  §  35, 
he  says  :  "  The  natural  price  of  labour  is  that  price  which  is  necessary 
to  enable  the  labourers,  one  with  another,  to  subsist  and  to  perpetuate 
their  race,  without  either  increase  or  diminution."  Professor  Gonner, 
in  his  edition  of  Ricardo  in  the  Bohn  Economic  Library,  explains 
this  last  clause  to  mean  "  in  the  same  position  of  life  or  comfort." 
Ricardo  was  often  an  ambiguous  writer.  But  evidently  "  increase  or 
diminution"  refers  to  the  number  of  laborers,  as  the  next  sentence 
makes  plain.  "  The  power  of  the  labourer  to  support  himself  and  the 
family  which  may  be  necessary  to  keep  up  the  number  of  labourers, 
does  not  depend  upon  the  quantity  of  money  Avhicli  he  may  receive 
for  wages,  but  on  the  quantity  of  food,  necessaries,  and  conveniences  be- 
come essential  to  him  from  habit,  which  that  money  will  purchase.  The 
natural  price  of  labour,  therefore,  depends  on  the  price  of  the  food, 
necessaries,  and  conveniences  required  for  the  supjiort  of  the  labourer 
and  his  family."  The  words  I  have  italicized  sufficiently  indicate  that 
Ricardo  did  not  intend  by  the  word  "subsist  "  in  this  famous  utter- 
ance, mere  animal  life  just  upon  the  verge  of  starvation  ;  but  rather 
he  had  in  mind  "  a  living  wage  "  as  the  trade-unionist  understands  it 
to-day.  A  little  later  Ricardo  speaks  of  the  "  moderate  comforts 
which  the  natural  rate  of  wages  will  afford."  The  natural  price  of 
labor  is  not  absohitely  fixed  and  constant.  "  It  varies  at  different 
times  in  the  same  country,  and  very  materially  differs  in  different 
countries.  It  essentially  depends  on  the  habits  and  customs  of  the 
people.  .  .  .  The  friends  of  humanity  cannot  but  wish  that  in  all 
countries  the  labouring  classes  should  have  a  taste  for  comforts  and 
enjoyments,  and  that  they  should  be  stimulated  by  all  legal  means  in 
their  exertions  to  procure  them." 


206    AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM 

class  can  best  defend  itself,  and  that  these  principles 
embody  a  line  of  reasonable  self-defense  on  the  part 
of  working  people.  The  principle  of  the  common  rule 
for  an  industry  is,  of  course,  subject  to  exceptions 
in  its  application  to  different  parts  of  the  same  state 
or  country,  where  conditions  and  circumstances  differ 
greatly.  In  regard  to  the  principle  of  the  minimum 
wage  the  trade-unionist  justly  declares  that  when  the 
trade-union  calls  for  a  certain  wage  by  the  day  or 
week  or  month,  under  a  general  agreement,  this  is 
not  fixing  a  maximum  wage.  No  employer  is  thereby 
prevented  from  paying  more  to  exceptionally  skilled 
workingmen.  The  employers  do  not  often  object  to 
the  plan  in  itself.  Their  conunon  objection  in  a  spe- 
cific case  is  that  the  minimum  daily  wage  is  set  too 
high  to  allow  the  average  return  to  the  manufacturer, 
and  that,  when  piece-work  is  the  rule,  the  rate  per 
piece  asked  by  the  union  is  much  too  high  for  the 
skillful  workman.  In  both  cases,  they  claim  that  the 
intention  is  to  enable  the  idle  or  incompetent  workman 
to  receive  "  a  fair  wage  "  without  rendering  for  it  "  a 
fair  day's  work."  These  objections,  however  pertinent 
in  particular  cases,  do  not  affect  the  soundness  of  the 
principle  in  itself.  We  are  here  concerned  not  with 
possible  abuses  of  the  principle,  but  with  its  general 
rationality.  Time  and  experience  seem  to  favor  the 
trade-union  contention.  When  conditions  of  industrial 
harmony  widely  prevail,  and  the  great  body  of  em- 
ployers appreciate  the  reasonableness  of  the  trade- 
union  policy,  conceived  on  large  lines,  the  whole  ques- 
tion between  the  two  parties  becomes  one  of  fairness 
and  good  sense  in  the  application  of  the  policy  by 
the  trade-unions  to  the  specific  circumstances  of  the 
industrial  situation. 


AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM    207 

Here  we  strike  a  fundamental  point  in  trade-union- 
ism. Relatively  to  the  vast  mass  of  the  employed  in 
all  industries,  the  employers  form  a  small  aristocracy. 
The  trade-unions,  on  the  other  hand,  are  a  huge,  or- 
ganized "industrial  democracy,"  as  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Webb  happily  call  the  movement.  The  trade-unions 
would  carry  into  industrial  life  the  democratic  method, 
which  has  made  such  great  strides  in  the  political  life 
of  modem  man.  Now  Mr.  Bryce  has  admirably  stated 
a  most  important  distmction  in  regard  to  the  matter 
of  the  government  of  a  people  by  itself.  He  points 
out,  in  his  "American  Commonwealth"  (first  edition, 
vol.  i.  p.  451),  the  difference  so  often  forgotten  in  a 
democracy,  between  what  the  people  want  —  a  thing 
which  they  know  very  well  —  and  the  question  of  the 
best  means  to  get  it  —  which  is  quite  another  matter. 
Mr.  Bryce' s  statement  applies  with  almost  as  much 
force  to  an  industrial  as  to  a  political  democracy. 
"  Every  question  that  arises  in  the  conduct  of  govern- 
ment is  either  a  question  of  ends  or  a  question  of 
means  ;  and  errors  may  be  committed  by  the  ruling 
power  either  in  fixing  on  wrong  ends  or  in  choosing 
wrong  means  to  secure  those  ends.  It  is  now,  after 
long  resistance  by  those  who  maintained  that  they 
knew  better  what  was  good  for  the  people  than  the 
people  knew  themselves,  at  last  agreed  that,  as  the 
masses  are  better  judges  of  what  will  conduce  to  their 
own  happiness  than  are  the  classes  placed  above  them, 
they  must  be  allowed  to  determine  ends.  This  is  in 
fact  the  essence  of  free  or  popular  government,  and 
the  justification  for  vesting  power  in  numbers.  But, 
assimiing  the  end  to  be  given,  who  is  best  qualified  to 
select  the  means  for  its  accomplishment?   To  do  so 


208    AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM 

needs  in  many  cases  a  knowledge  of  the  facts,  a  skill 
in  interpi'eting  them,  a  power  of  forecasting  the  re- 
sults of  measures,  unattainable  by  the  mass  of  man- 
kind. Such  knowledge  is  too  high  for  them.  It  is 
attainable  only  by  trained  economists,  legists,  states- 
men. If  the  masses  attempt  it,  they  will  commit 
mistakes  not  less  serious  than  those  which  befall  a 
litigant  who  insists  on  conducting  a  complicated  case, 
instead  of  leaving  it  to  his  attorney  and  counsel.  But 
in  popular  governments  this  distinction  between  ends 
and  means  is  apt  to  be  forgotten.  Often  it  is  one 
which  cannot  be  sharply  drawn,  because  some  ends 
are  means  to  larger  ends,  and  some  means  are  desired 
not  only  for  the  sake  of  larger  ends,  but  for  their  own 
sakes  also.  And  the  habit  of  trusting  its  own  wisdom 
and  enjoying  its  own  power,  in  which  the  multitude  is 
encouraged  by  its  leaders  and  servants,  disposes  it  to 
isrnore  the  distinction  even  where  the  distinction  is 
clear,  and  makes  it  refer  to  the  direct  arbitrament  of 
the  people  matters  which  the  people  are  unfit  to  decide, 
and  which  they  might  safely  leave  to  their  trained 
ministers  or  representatives.  Thus  we  find  that  the 
direct  government  of  the  multitude  may  become  dan- 
gerous, not  only  because  the  multitude  shares  the  faults 
and  follies  of  ordinary  human  nature,  but  also  because 
it  is  intellectually  incompetent  for  the  delicate  busi- 
ness of  conducting  the  daily  work  of  government,  i.  e., 
of  choosing  and  carrying  out  with  vigor  and  prompti- 
tude the  requisite  executive  means.  The  fact  that  it 
is  called  by  a  singular  name  has  made  many  forget 
that  'the  people'  means  nothing  more  than  so  many 
millions  of  individual  men." 

When  the  trade-unionist  considers  the  means  to  be 


AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM    209 

used  in  order  to  attain  his  ends,  the  question  of  strikes 
and  boycotts  arises,  and  the  issue  is  raised  at  once 
whether  these  common  methods  are  justifiable  in 
themselves,  or  with  their  usual  accompaniments.  We 
shall  fully  consider  these  phenomena  later,  and  the 
kindred  phenomena  of  the  lockout  and  the  blacklist. 
It  will  be  sufficient  here  to  say  that  the  abstract  right 
to  strike,  i.  e.,  to  leave  the  employment  of  a  particular 
person,  in  concert  with  a  large  number  of  other  em- 
ployees, is  now  beyond  dispute  in  law  or  equity.  The 
too  common  accompaniments  of  strikes  in  the  way  of 
intimidation  and  violence  are  apt  to  be  regarded  dif- 
ferently, as  one  is  a  trade-unionist,  an  employer,  or  an 
outsider  to  the  dispute.  The  boycott  is  generally  de- 
fended by  the  trade-unionist ;  it  is  sometimes  palliated 
by  the  public,  but  it  has  no  standing  before  the  courts 
or  with  the  economists.  It  is  here  that  the  main  di- 
vergence between  the  actual  habits  of  the  trade-imion- 
ists  of  to-day  and  the  judgment  of  impartial  outsiders 
comes  in. 

The  modern  press,  the  pulpit,  and  the  general  pub- 
lic, as  well  as  the  economists  and  a  large  proportion, 
at  least,  of  the  employers  of  labor,  unhesitatingly  en- 
dorse the  right  of  the  workmen  to  combine.  Whether 
using  the  phrases  or  not,  the  powers  that  shape  public 
opinion  agree  in  favor  of  collective  bargaining,  the 
minimum  wage,  the  common  rule,  and  the  elevation 
of  the  standard  of  living  among  working  people.  It  is 
generally  conceded  by  sensible  people  to-day  that  the 
question  of  industrial  peace  is  mainly  a  question  of 
the  right  means  to  be  employed  by  trade-unionists  in 
attaining  their  ideal.  The  steady  trend  of  opinion 
among  the  most  intelligent  employers  of  labor  at  pre- 


210    AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM 

sent  may  be  said  to  be  strongly  in  favor  of  abandoning 
their  old  and  not  unnatural  hostility  to  combinations 
of  workmen  ^^er  se.  The  modern  employer  of  labor 
who  really  opposes  the  principle  of  combination  among 
workmen  surely  occupies  a  remarkably  illogical  posi- 
tion, while  he  eagerly  practises  the  princijjle  of  combi- 
nation with  his  fellow  manufacturers,  in  the  formation 
of  trusts  on  a  large  or  small  scale.  At  the  same  time, 
logic  cannot  be  said  to  make  its  chosen  home  with  the 
trade-unionists,  when  they  denounce  with  fervid  rhe- 
toric all  monopolies  and  trusts,  except  the  monopoly 
and  trust  of  which  they  themselves  are  the  leaders  and 
advocates.  The  true  line  for  the  modern  employer  of 
labor  to  take  is  that  the  combination  of  employers 
over  against  the  combination  of  the  workmen  is  good 
policy  ;  that  the  employers'  association  and  the  trade- 
unions  are  equally  justifiable. 

In  getting  light  on  this  question  of  the  right  means 
to  ends  admitted  to  be  proper,  we  cannot  place  too 
much  stress  upon  the  fact  that  production  is  the  result 
of  a  bargain.  As  in  all  other  transactions  of  a  com- 
mercial nature,  where  the  thing  bought  and  sold  is 
not  labor,  so  with  labor  ;  the  result  of  discussion  be- 
tween rational  men  is,  "  Take  it,  or  leave  it !  "  One 
party  must  accept  the  terms  offered  by  the  other 
party,  or  reject  them.  If  it  accepts  them,  well  and 
good ;  the  bargain  is  consiimmated  and  production 
goes  on,  under  the  terms  of  the  bargain.  If  the  bar- 
gain is  not  made,  then  the  parties  should  leave  each 
other  alone  until  they  can  get  together  again,  and 
make  a  bargain.  If  later  efforts  at  bargaining  fail, 
other  parties  shoidd  have  a  free  field  to  come  in  and 
seek  to  make  a  bargain ;  other  workmen  should  be 


AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM    211 

free  to  contract  with  the  employers ;  other  employers 
to  contract  with  the  workmen.  This  is  the  plain  dic- 
tate of  common  sense  and  reason  in  regard  to  the  pro- 
cess of  bargaining  in  a  civilized  world. 

A  certain  moderate  amount  of  inconvenience  will 
be  endured  patiently  by  a  community  which  believes 
in  discussion  as  the  best  means  of  settling  all  differ- 
ences between  man  and  man,  or  men  and  men.  This 
is  a  tribute  which  civilization  pays  to  reason  and  its 
unarbitrary  ways  of  solving  questions.  It  is  best  to 
leave  a  certain  area  open  where  public  opinion  may 
play  freely,  and  express  itself  not  by  force,  not  by 
law,  but  by  its  diffusive  influence  through  ordinary 
converse,  through  the  pulpit,  the  press,  and  the  "  plat- 
form "  in  general.  In  England  or  the  United  States 
the  public  will,  then,  think  it  natural  that  the  em- 
ployer or  the  employee,  in  case  of  a  dispute,  should 
begin  by  taking  an  extreme  position.  It  is  part  of  the 
natural  process  of  bargaining,  human  nature  being 
what  it  is,  that  each  jjarty  shall  allow  itself  room 
for  making  concessions.  Threats  and  vaporings  from 
either  side  will,  of  course,  alienate  the  favorable  opin- 
ion of  the  judicious  from  the  start.  Demands  which 
are  plainly  preposterous  must  be  soon  abated,  and  the 
margin  allowable  for  mistakes  or  misstatements  as 
to  the  facts  on  which  the  demands  are  based  will  be 
early  exhausted.  Prejudice  is  soon  excited  against  a 
belligerent  bargainer,  whose  desire  evidently  is  not  to 
make  a  fair  compromise,  but  to  coerce  the  other  party. 
While  the  preliminaries  are  going  on,  the  public  is 
patient,  but  it  is  judging  the  situation,  and  each  of 
the  disputing  parties  should  have  good  sense  enough 
to  remember  this,  and  so  conduct  itself  as  to  win  for 


212    AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM 

itself  the  powerful  influence  of  a  general  public  pre- 
possessed in  its  favor  because  of  its  moderation  and 
restraint. 

The  preliminaries  must  be  gone  through,  but  they 
will  not  admit  of  long  or  indefinite  extension.  The 
public  expects  the  two  parties  to  settle  down  to  the 
business  in  hand,  which  is  to  make  a  bargain.  If  they 
are  making  progress  toward  it,  the  public  must  be 
content,  however  slow  at  first  the  rate  of  progress  may 
seem.  The  one  thing  which  the  public  has  no  call  to 
endure  is  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  both  parties  to 
decline  altogether  this,  their  proper  business,  of  mak- 
ing a  bargain  which  shall  be  reasonably  fair  to  both. 
Perfect  justice  is  not  to  be  expected  to  appear  in  any 
such  agreement.  Enough  if  this  year's  agreement  is  a 
little  nearer  than  last  year's  to  entire  fairness.  Rea- 
sonable compromise,  not  perfect  justice,  should  be  the 
aim  of  both  employer  and  employed. 

One  of  the  worst  enemies  of  reasonable  compromise 
in  the  discussion  of  practical  matters  of  business,  like 
wages  and  contracts,  is  rhetoric,  with  its  intrusion  of 
metaphor,  mythology,  and  personification  in  the  hand- 
ling of  concrete  issues.  If,  for  instance,  all  writers 
and  speakers  on  labor  disputes  could  be  restrained  by 
law  for  the  next  few  years  from  even  mentioning  "  the 
conflict  of  Labor  and  Capital,"  and  if  judges  could  be 
persuaded  to  refrain  from  alluding  to  "  Frankenstein 
and  his  monster,"  when  issuing  injunctions  against 
trade-unions,  it  would  be  no  small  gain  for  industrial 
peace.  An  inordinate  amount  of  disturbing  passion  is 
aroused  by  wild  declamation  on  this  vague  "  conflict." 
If  the  discussion  is  brought  back  to  the  tangible  mat- 
ter of  the  actual  merits  of  A,  B,  C  —  real  persons  in 


AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM    213 

the  place,  employing  workingmen  —  and  X,  Y,  Z,  — 
those  actual  workingmen  whom  we  know,  —  one  can 
make  some  progress  toward  a  just  solution  of  specific 
difficulties. 

As  a  simple  matter  of  fact,  the  unionist's  part  in 
the  discussion  of  disputes  between  employers  and  em- 
ployed is  the  one  more  apt  to  be  overloaded  with  rhe- 
torical riches  in  the  way  of  declamation  and  metaphor. 
The  untrained  mind  inevitably  falls  into  this  rude  po- 
etry. To  restrain  one's  feelings,  to  talk  the  language  of 
prose,  to  appeal  to  facts,  and  to  give  one's  self  submis- 
sively into  the  hands  of  logic  is  not  an  easy  thing  for 
any  one.  Few  enough  do  it  on  the  side  of  the  employers 
or  manufacturers  who  take  to  discussion  of  labor  mat- 
ters !  But  the  employers,  and  those  who  write  as  ad- 
vocates of  the  employers,  are  free  from  many  tempta- 
tions in  this  direction.  The  man  of  affairs  is  by  nature 
or  by  habit  averse  to  wasting  time  on  "  tall  talk ;  "  he 
always  prefers  a  "  business  proposition,"  expressed  in 
figures  of  arithmetic,  not  in  figures  of  speech.  We 
may  properly  expect  an  improvement,  however  gi'ad- 
ual,  in  the  tone  of  labor  literature  in  this  respect,  as 
knowledge  of  economics  and  familiarity  with  the  tone 
of  scientific  discussion  of  economic  subjects  are  more 
widely  diffused  among  workingmen.^ 

A  long  time  may  reasonably  be  allowed  to  the  trade- 
unionists  to  get  rid  of  the  ambitious  rhetoric  which 

1  Mr.  John  Mitchell's  recent  volume,  Organized  Laftor,  shows  a  great 
superiority,  in  its  straightforward,  common-sensible  style,  over  such 
rhetorical  papers  as  were  presented  to  the  American  Economic  Asso- 
ciation (of  all  audiences)  at  Philadelphia,  in  190*2,  by  Messrs.  G.  E. 
McNeill  and  F.  K.  Foster.  Mr.  Henry  White  should  be  named  by 
the  side  of  Mr.  Mitchell  as  a  unionist  able  to  "  write  like  a  human 
being,''  as  Bagehot  would  say,  on  labor  subjects.  (See  the  Report  of 
the  above  meeting.) 


214    AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM 

too  often  disfigures  their  literature  and  robs  it  of  the 
power  for  conviction  with  the  judicious  that  properly 
belongs  to  their  case  well  stated.  But  there  is  one 
reformation  which  they  cannot  set  about  too  soon  or 
accomplish  too  thoroughly.  This  is  the  complete  dis- 
missal from  their  minds  of  the  notion  that  they  are 
engaged  in  a  pecidiarly  divine  mission,  so  that  they 
may  look  upon  themselves  as  a  church  of  the  faithful, 
and  upon  all  others  who  do  not  join  them  or  assent  to 
their  doctrines  as  infidel  and  impious.  I  shall  need  to 
recur  to  this  point  in  speaking  of  the  treatment  of 
non-unionist  workmen  by  unionists,  but  I  mention  it 
here  as  it  bears  upon  the  quality  and  tone  of  trade- 
unionist  literature  and  discussion.  To  use  the  lan- 
guage of  plain  fact,  the  trade-unions  are  composed  of 
men  who  have  united,  very  obviously,  to  promote  their 
own  material  welfare.  They  seek  to  drive  a  better 
bargain  with  the  employer,  by  means  of  the  combina- 
tion they  have  formed,  than  they  coidd  as  individuals, 
to  get  higher  wages  and  a  shorter  day.  This  is  a 
business  matter  of  immediate  self-interest.  They  are 
properly  trying  to  obtain  a  larger  share  of  the  national 
dividend  for  the  families  of  workingmen  as  a  class. 
They  have  chosen  the  wise  and  effective  way  to  ac- 
complish their  object  by  uniting  their  interests.  The 
increase  of  income  desired  means  a  more  comfortable, 
a  more  pleasant,  a  more  satisfactory  life  for  themselves 
and  all  who  are  dear  to  them.  But  getting  a  larger 
income  is  not  in  itself  a  holy  thing ;  the  effort  to  ob- 
tain it  is  not  a  genuine  crusade  against  a  world  of  sin ; 
enlisting  in  this  army  does  not  stamp  a  man  as  highly 
moral  or  saintly.  A  combination  of  teachers  or  of  gro- 
cers to  increase  their  incomes  would  have  fundamen- 


AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM    215 

tally  as  many  reasons  as  a  trade-union  has  for  consid- 
ering itself  an  army  of  the  living  God. 

From  a  social  point  of  view,  it  is  indeed  most  desir- 
able that  the  workingmen  of  eveiy  civilized  country 
should  combine  and  work  heartily  together  for  the  im- 
provement of  their  lot.  It  can  only  be  improved,  how- 
ever, by  making  a  more  advantageous  bargain  with 
another  class  of  people  who  have  an  equal  right  as 
human  beings  to  consider  their  own  interests.  If  the 
mixture  of  rhetoric  with  business  is  bad,  the  mixture 
of  pseudo-piety  with  business  is  still  worse,  and  of  all 
varieties  of  this  mixture,  the  mixture  of  class-piety  with 
business  is  the  worst,  especially  when  the  end  is  taken 
to  justify  any  means.  The  intolerant,  excommunicating 
spirit  which  nearly  all  churches  in  times  now  happily 
past  have  practised,  when  the  state  allowed  them  to 
do  so,  is  the  last  spirit  which  should  characterize  a 
movement  for  the  weKare  of  man.  We  have  a  "  nat- 
ural right  "  (that  is  to  say,  it  is  a  part  of  our  in- 
stincts) to  defend  our  own  interests  as  individuals  ; 
every  sound  system  of  ethics  justifies  an  enlightened 
seK-regard.  We  have  an  equally  good  right  to  associ- 
ate with  others  of  our  class  to  forward  the  interests  of 
that  class  as  such.  But  we  have  no  right  to  represent 
ourselves  as  dedicated  to  utter  unselfisliness,  pure  hu- 
manity, and  the  will  of  God,  when  we  are  simply  try- 
ing to  make  a  good  bargain,  in  exchanging  our  labor- 
power  or  our  mind-power  for  a  higher  compensation  ! 
Trade-unionism  needs  to  divest  itself  of  cant,  and  to 
remember  in  a  cool  hour  that  its  dealings  with  em- 
ployers are  essentially  the  same  thing  that  other  mil- 
lions of  human  beings  are  doing  every  day,  —  bar- 
gaining for  the  exchange  of  services  or  commodities. 


216    AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM 

These  do  it  all  the  more  effectively  the  less  they  are 
troubled  by  a  flood  of  emotion,  the  flowers  of  rhe- 
toric, or  the  pride  of  orthodoxy  ! 

Collective  bargaining,  I  repeat,  is  a  business  matter, 
and  quietness  of  tone  is  a  first  requisite  to  the  reason- 
able transaction  of  it.  Trade-miionists  on  a  strike 
need  only  search  their  own  hearts  carefully  to  discern 
that  the  motive  for  their  zeal  is  not  love  of  all  men, 
and  love  of  God  as  the  Father  of  all  men,  but  a  very 
excited  and  very  intense  attachment  to  their  own  in- 
terest. But  again  we  must  say  that  the  rational  objec- 
tion here  is  not  to  the  pursuit  of  self-interest  in  itself, 
but  to  the  irrational  extremes  to  which  it  is  often 
carried,  and  to  the  attempt  to  disguise  it  under  high- 
sounding  words. 

In  a  time  of  business  prosperity  the  unions,  pursu- 
ing their  rational  self-interest  with  animated  modera- 
tion, succeed  in  making  an  advantageous  bargain,  as 
to  wages  or  hours,  with  the  employers.  It  stands  to 
reason  that  they  must  be  content  to  accept  compara- 
tively disadvantageous  terms  at  other  times  when  the 
conditions  of  the  market  for  labor  and  for  the  products 
of  labor  are  not  prosperous.  A  good  bargainer  is  one  who 
makes  the  most  as  well  as  the  best  bargains,  and  he  can 
only  make  the  most  and  the  best  bargains  by  willing- 
ness to  give,  in  what,  for  him,  are  bad  times,  as  well  as 
by  anxiety  to  take,  in  what,  for  him,  are  good  times. 
It  was  a  surprising  commentary  on  such  truisms  as 
this  when  the  president  of  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor,  in  a  time  (November,  1903)  of  closing 
factories  and  falling  prices,  exliorted  the  workingmen 
of  the  country  not  to  accept  any  reduction  of  wages, 
but  to  demand  that  the  employers  keep  up  wages,  re- 


AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM    217 

duce  production,  and  maintain  prices.^  Fortunately, 
American  workingmen  are  made,  for  the  most  part,  of 
better  stuff  as  bargainers  than  such  counselors,  and 
within  a  month  they  were  accepting  by  the  ten  thou- 
sand, without  a  strike  of  any  consequence,  the  inevi- 
table reduction  of  wages  which  the  hardening  times 
necessitated. 

The  "  living  wage  "  is  a  term  too  often  surrounded 
by  a  cloud  of  rhetoric.  We  have  seen  what  Ricardo's 
position  was.  He  held  that  it  includes  the  means  of 
procuring  the  necessaries,  conveniences,  and  comforts 
which  have  become  habitual  to  the  workingman  in  the 
society  in  which  he  lives.  To  be  concrete,  how  large  a 
sum  must  this  be  in  a  particular  country  to  maintain 
a  decent  standard  of  life  for  the  workman,  his  wife, 
and  three  children,  say?  Mr.  Keir  Hardie  declared 
that  it  should  be  three  pounds  sterling,  or  -flS.OO,  a 
week  for  a  miner.  The  London  City  Council  has 
estimated  the  sum  more  reasonably  at  twenty-four 
shillings,  or  <f6.00,  a  week  for  the  London  artisan. 
Professor  Alfred  Marshall's  estimate  practically  coin- 
cides with  this.  Mr.  Jolin  Mitchell  believes  that 
$12.00  a  week,  or  $600  a  year,  is  the  minimum 
amount  which   the   American   imskilled   workingman 

^  "  It  will  be  helpful  to  consider  the  policy  pursued  by  employers 
during  similar  periods  in  the  past,  ...  a  policy  which  has  proved  not 
only  injurious  but  perversive  of  the  very  purpose  for  which  it  was  in- 
augurated. I  refer  to  the  policy  of  reducing  wages  as  a  means  to  tide 
over,  or  emerge  from,  industrial  depression.  ...  It  is  the  height  of 
economic  unwisdom  to  curtail  the  consuming  power  of  the  masses  as 
a  means  to  industrial  revival  or  prosperity.  .  .  .  The  working  people 
should  resist  any  attempt  to  reduce  their  wages  or  to  increase  their 
hours  of  labor.  .  .  .  We  urge  as  a  way  out  that  wag-es  be  maintained, 
even  if  necessary  to  resist  reductions ;  that  as  a  substitute  for  dis- 
charges of  workmen  the  work  to  be  performed  be  divided."  —  Mr. 
Gompers,  in  his  annual  address. 


218    AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM 

should  be  willing  to  accept.^  This  estimate  was  not  in- 
tended to  apply  to  country  life,  on  one  hand,  or  to  life 
in  great  cities,  on  the  other  hand,  but  to  the  great  mass 
of  workmen  living  m  towns  and  cities  having  from 
5,000  to  100,000  popidation.  The  American  stand- 
ard of  living  should  mean,  "a  comfortable  house 
of  at  least  six  rooms,  —  a  bath-room,  good  sanitary 
plumbing,  a  pai'lor,  dining-room,  kitchen,  and  suf- 
ficient sleeping  room  that  decency  may  be  preserved 
and  a  reasonable  degree  of  comfort  maintained."  It 
should  mean  "  to  the  unskilled  workman,  carpets, 
pictures,  books,  and  furniture  with  which  to  make 
home  bright,  comfortable,  and  attractive  for  himself 
and  his  family,  an  ample  supply  of  clothing  suitable 
for  winter  and  summer,  and  above  all  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  good,  wholesome,  nourishing  food  at  all 
times  of  the  year.  The  American  standard  of  living, 
moreover,  should  mean  to  the  unskilled  workman  that 
his  children  be  kept  in  school  until  they  have  attained 
the  age  of  sixteen  at  least,  and  that  he  be  enabled  to 
lay  by  sufficient  to  maintain  himself  and  his  family  in 
times  of  illness  or  at  the  close  of  his  industrial  life 
.  .  .  and  to  make  provision  for  his  family  against  his 
premature  death  from  accident  or  otherwise.  This,  or 
something  like  this,  is  the  American  standard  of  liv- 
ing, as  it  exists  in  the  ideals  of  the  unskilled  working- 
men." 

The  "  standard  of  comfort "  thus  defined  by  Mr. 
Mitchell  does  not  appear  extravagant  in  its  demands. 
It  seems  to  include  only  the  essentials  of  a  decently 
comfortable  existence  in  the  United  States  in  the  year 
1903.     These    coidd    only   be  procured  for  $600   a 

1  See  his  Organized  Labor,  pp.  116-118. 


AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM     219 

year  by  the  practice  of  thrift  and  temperance.  That 
the  national  dividend  for  1903,  if  equitably  distrib- 
uted, would  guarantee  such  a  sum  to  every  working- 
man  Mr.  Mitchell  asserts  emphatically  (p.  115),  but 
he  does  not  present  such  figures  of  this  dividend  and 
its  possible  division  as  Professor  William  Smart  gives 
in  his  paper  on  "  A  Living  Wage."  The  latter  shows 
that  one  third  of  the  workingmen's  families  of  Great 
Britain  might  receive  24  shillings  a  week  each,  the 
other  two  thirds  XI 00  a  year ;  "  trades  "  families 
might  receive  XI 50  each  ;  the  "  middle  class  "  families 
about  X400  each,  and  the  "  upper  class  "  families  an 
average  of  X2,000  a  year.^ 

In  the  absence  of  any  figures  showing  the  national 
dividend  or  income  of  the  United  States  and  the 
number  of  families  of  workingmen,  tradespeople,  pro- 
fessional men,  etc.,  it  is  impossible  to  pronounce  de- 
finitely that  each  workingman's  family  could  receive 
$600  a  year,  and  aU  other  classes  of  families  be 
treated  fairly  in  the  distribution.  The  probability 
seems  to  be  that  the  allotment  of  such  a  sum  to  each 
of  the  families  of  the  working-class  popidation  (if  made 
by  the  State  or  by  some  other  power)  would  not  ma- 
terially reduce  the  income  of  other  classes ;  certainly 
it  would  not  reduce  other  classes  to  povei*ty  if  the  re- 
mainder of  the  national  dividend  were  evenly  divided 
among  all  other  families  of  the  country. 

But  the  question,  not  of  the  desirability  of  such  an 
income  for  the  average  workingman's  family,  but  of 
its  feasibility,  is  one  to  be  answered  only  by  the  effort 

^  Studies  in  Economics,  pp.  35  f.  These  figures  are  based  on  Sir  R. 
Giffen's  estimate  of  the  national  capital  and  Mulhall's  estimate  of  the 
number  of  families. 


220     AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM 

to  obtain  it.  The  amount  is  surely  not  unreasonable 
in  itself  considered.  The  point  is  to  discover  if  the 
national  dividend  of  the  year  will  suffice  to  pay  this 
sum  and  leave  a  sum  which  will  satisfy  the  other 
factors  engaged  in  production,  as  a  "  fair  "  return  for 
their  work  also.  Solvitur  ambulando  !  Trade-unions 
and  employers  must  work  out  this  problem  in  actual 
life.  Wages  must  come  out  of  the  product.  Interest, 
profits,  salaries  for  management,  and  allowances  for 
repairs  and  for  depreciation  must  also  be  paid  out  of 
the  product.  If  the  product  of  a  certain  estabhshment 
suffices  to  return  the  common  rate  of  interest  on  its 
capital  actually  invested,  the  usual  salaries  for  able 
managers,  and  the  siun  necessary  to  keep  the  plant  in 
good  condition,  and  will  then  give  the  workingman  an 
average  wage  of  only  il.50  a  day,  it  is  evident  that 
no  bargaining,  however  ably  conducted  by  a  trade- 
imion  and  an  employer,  will  bring  about  any  other 
result.  If,  in  point  of  fact,  these  other  expenses  are 
fixed  and  reasonable,  then  the  wage-earners  must  divide 
the  remainder  of  the  product  among  themselves  and 
come  out  of  the  transaction  with  $1.50  a  day  as  their 
wage. 

One  alternative  is,  if  possible,  to  beat  down  the 
capitalist  and  the  manager  to  accept  less  for  a  time 
than  the  conunon  rate  of  compensation  for  money 
loaned  and  ability  employed  in  keeping  up  the  busi- 
ness. But  this  policy  could  not  be  followed  for  any 
leng-th  of  time.  The  capitalist  would  withdraw  his 
capital,  to  invest  it  in  some  more  profitable  business, 
and  the  manager  would  transfer  his  abilities  to  a  post 
with  a  higher  salary,  and  the  establishment  would  be 
closed.    The  more  reasonable  course  would  be  to  in- 


AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM     221 

crease  the  product,  if  possible,  to  such  a  sum  as  would 
give  the  workmen  the  fifty  cents  a  day  additional 
which  they  demand.  The  question  whether  or  not  this 
can  be  done  is  purely  practical. 

A  great  advantage  in  the  system  of  collective  agi-ee- 
ments  is  that  such  questions  are  not  held  to  be  decided 
by  the  bald  assertion  of  the  employer  that  he  is  getting 
at  present  only  a  fair  return  for  capital  and  ability. 
In  collective  bargaining,  under  pressure  from  the  "  able 
bargainer  "  with  whom  he  has  to  negotiate  (i.  e.,  the 
trade-union),  he  must  produce  facts  and  figures  to 
sustain  his  contention.  It  is  equally  plain  that  the 
union,  when  making  a  demand  for  an  increase  of  wages, 
must  be  prepared  to  reinforce  the  demand  with  solid 
arguments  based  on  profits  realized,  the  condition  of 
business  in  general,  and  the  cost  of  living.  As  in  all 
other  bargaining,  the  probable  result  is  a  compromise, 
neither  party  gaining  its  full  demand,  e.  g.,  that  wages 
shall  be  lowered,  or  that  they  shall  be  raised  so  many 
cents  a  day.  An  increase  finally  attained  may  serve,  if 
the  change  has  been  moderate,  as  a  sufficient  precedent 
for  fixing  wages  under  a  new  agreement  for  another 
year  at  the  same  figure.  Thus  it  initiates  a  new  "  cus- 
tom of  the  trade."  If  the  change,  on  the  other  hand, 
seemed  to  the  employer  too  great  to  be  really  "  fair," 
he  will  meet  the  next  demand  for  an  increase  in  a 
very  different  spirit. 

The  trade-union  is  justified  in  following  the  usual 
methods  of  the  able  bargainer  in  its  dealings  with  the 
employer,  —  in  representing  conditions  as  highly  favor- 
able to  itself  and  very  unfavorable  to  the  other  party ; 
as  likely  to  improve  for  itself  and  to  grow  worse  for 
the  other ;  in  rating  what  it  has  to  sell,  i.  e.,  labor,  as 


222      AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM 

very  valuable,  and  what  it  lias  to  buy,  i.  e.,  wages, 
as  comparatively  valueless.  These  are  old  tricks,  to  be 
expected  from  both  sides  of  the  bargain.  What  the 
public  has  a  right  to  expect  is  that  neither  side  will 
permanently  becloud  the  issue,  which  is,  whether  or 
not  a  bargain  would  be  reached  by  reasonable  men  in 
the  respective  positions  of  the  employer  and  the  em- 
ployed. This  finally  comes  to  be  a  matter  of  addition 
and  subtraction  and  division  of  figures  which  can  be 
determined  by  experts,  if  necessary.  The  public  will 
judge  of  the  rationality  of  the  bargainers  here,  as  else- 
where, by  the  time  that  they  actually  take  to  conclude 
a  bargain.  The  phrase  "  a  living  wage  "  must  not  be 
juggled  with,  to  bear  two  meanings  at  the  same  time : 
one  "  a  wage  necessary  to  keep  the  wage-earner  barely 
alive,"  and  the  other  "  a  wage  such  as  he  deems  desir- 
able to  raise  the  standard  of  comfort  prevailmg  in  his 
class."  A  movement  for  a  living  wage  in  the  former 
sense  will,  of  course,  have  the  approval  of  all  persons 
in  ordinary  times.  A  movement  in  the  second  sense 
will  be  approved  by  the  judicious  in  case,  and  only  in 
case,  they  beheve  that  the  increasing  product  of  the 
industry  will  justify  the  increase  of  wages.  It  will 
probably  receive  such  an  approval,  therefore,  in  good 
times  only.  When  the  trade-unionist  declares,  "  We 
only  want  a  living  wage,"  the  inquiry,  then,  is  always 
pertinent,  "  What  kind  of  a  living  do  you  mean  ? " 
The  Anthracite  Strike  Commission  found  the  claim  of 
the  contract  miners  that  they  could  not  maintain  the 
standard  of  life  on  the  wages  received  (which  the 
commissioners  put  at  an  average  of  $560  a  year)  one 
"  not  to  be  fully  allowed  in  the  terms  in  which  it  is 
made  "  (Report,  p.  46),  while  they  granted  an  increase 


AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM     223 

of  10  per  cent,  on  account  of  the  increased  cost  of 
living. 

"A  gradual  reduction  of  the  hours  of  labor  to 
eight,"  as  the  platform  of  the  Knights  of  Labor 
phrases  it,  is  the  second  great  demand  of  the  trade- 
unions.  It  is  a  very  reasonable  demand.  Trade-union 
writers  are  apt  to  use  contradictory  arguments  in  their 
advocacy  of  this  reform,  but  an  economist  like  Mr. 
John  Rae  convincingly  shows  that  the  case  for  an 
eight-hour  day  with  ten  hours'  pay  is  well  made  out 
from  experience. 1  Mr.  Rae  has  so  thorougldy  dis- 
cussed this  subject  that  I  can  do  no  better  than  to 
borrow  from  him  a  few  pertinent  facts  and  comments. 
He  begins  by  pointing  out  that  the  working  day  was 
commonly  about  eight  hours  in  length  in  England  be- 
fore the  rise  of  the  factory  system.  King  Alfred's  rule 
prevailed  with  early  Englishmen  so  far  as  work  was 
concerned. 

The  introduction  into  mines  and  factories  of  ma- 
chinery run  by  steam  lengthened  the  moderate  hours 
of  the  miner's  and  the  farmer's  day  to  a  working  day 
of  twelve,  fourteen,  or  even  sixteen  hours  in  the  cot- 

^  Eight  Hours  for  Work,  1894.  Mr.  Rae's  volume  is  so  candid, 
comprehensive,  and  exhaustive  of  the  subject  that  it  is  the  one  au- 
thority to  refer  to.  A  Shorter  Working  Day,  by  R.  Hadfield  and  H. 
de  B.  Gibbins,  and  The  Eight  Hour  Day,  by  Sidney  Webb  and  Harold 
Cox  (1891),  are  much  inferior  statements  in  favor  of  the  movement, 
and  Mr.  J.  M.  Robertson's  The  Eight  Hours  Question,  in  opposition,  is 
an  inadequate  treatment.  So  liberal-minded  an  economist  as  General 
F.  A.  Walker  would  probably,  in  view  of  the  numerous  facts  brought 
forward  by  Mr.  Rae  to  show  the  successful  operation  of  the  system, 
have  modified  his  attitude,  as  evidenced  in  his  article  on  ''  The  Eifjht 
Hour  Agitation  "  (reprinted  in  his  Discussions  of  Econo/nics  and  Sta- 
tistics, vol.  ii.  pp.  379-390)  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  for  June,  1890. 
Commissioner  Wright  gives  a  good  brief  account  of  the  movement  in 
his  Industrial  Evolution  of  the  United  States,  part  iii. 


224    AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM 

ton  factory.  In  their  eagerness  to  get  the  utmost 
product  from  their  expensive  machinery,  the  manu- 
facturers overlooked  the  importance  of  the  living  ma- 
chines that  they  employed.  After  a  certain  limit  is 
reached,  it  is  better  for  the  workmen,  and  better  for 
the  employer,  that  the  spinner  or  weaver  shall  rest. 
The  last  hour  has  too  often  "  eaten  up  all  the  profits." 
Richard  Cobden,  to  be  sure,  thought  that  the  passage 
of  the  ten-hour  bill  for  women  and  children  in  1847 
would  close  down  every  factory  in  England  ;  but  no 
such  result  followed.  On  the  contrary,  the  reduction 
of  hours  increased  the  product  and  greatly  heightened 
the  efficiency  of  the  workman.  Other  experiences  in 
reducing  working  hours  in  mills  to  ten  a  day  have 
taught  the  same  lesson.  What  Robert  Owen  attained 
at  New  Lanark,  Swiss,  Dutch,  and  Massachusetts 
manufacturers  have  also  attained  by  a  ten-hours  rule, 
—  a  larger  profit  to  themselves,  and  an  improved 
physical  and  moral  condition  for  their  workpeople. 
The  ten-hour  day  has  amply  vindicated  itself  wherever 
it  has  been  tried.  ^ 

The  question  of  a  further  reduction  to  eight  hours 
is  one  to  be  decided  in  the  same  manner,  by  experi- 
ence. The  actual  demand  is  for  the  wage  now  paid 
for  ten  hoiu*s'  work,  to  be  done  in  eight  hours'  time. 
The  practical  inquiry,  —  the  only  one  of  much  impor- 
tance, —  is.  Can  this  be  done  ?  If  the  average  work- 
man of  tliis  generation  is  put  on  the  eight-hour  day, 
with  ten  hours'  wages,  wiU  he  speed  himself  up,  or  can 
he  be  speeded  up,  so  that  he  will  produce  as  much  in 

1  See  the  excellent  paper  by  Mr.  A.  F.  Weber  in  the  Report  of  the 
Industrial  Conference  of  1902,  pp.  189-202,  and  the  addresses  by  Mr. 
Theodore  Marburg  and  Mr.  M.  M.  Marks  in  the  same  volume. 


AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM     225 

eight  hours  as  formerly  in  ten,  without  undue  strain  ? 
The  numerous  cases  in  which  Mr.  Rae  gives  the  results 
of  such  a  reduction  prove  that  this  has  been  done 
repeatedly,  and  the  probability  therefore  is  that  it 
can  be  done  commonly.  All  that  the  vast  majority  of 
workmen  now  accomplish  in  ten  hours,  they  could 
accomplish  in  eight  hours,  if  it  were  made  ivorth.  their 
while.  The  eight-hour  worker  "  hauls  in  slack  "  very 
plainly.  He  works  more  rapidly,  more  accurately,  and 
more  independently  than  the  ten -hour  worker.  He 
stops  his  machine  less  often  and  for  shorter  times, 
so  that  even  "  automatic  machinery "  turns  out  a 
larger  product  per  hour  when  tended  by  an  alert  and 
interested  eight-hour  worker.  No  argument  is  appar- 
ently so  conclusive  as  the  manufacturer's  declaration 
that  an  hour's  stoppage  of  his  machinery  means  and 
must  mean  a  proportional  loss  of  production  and  so 
of  profit.  But  no  argument  has  been  proved  by  actual 
trial  to  be  more  deceptive !  The  man  at  the  machine 
is  far  more  important  than  the  machine,  and  the  main 
point  is  to  find  how  long  he  can  be  kept  at  his  maxi- 
mum efficiency,  so  that  to  work  him  longer  becomes 
unprofitable.  Mr.  Rae  has  demonstrated  that  eight 
hours  is  the  most  profitable  length  of  the  working-day 
for  all  parties  concerned,  in  many  occupations  (pp.  93- 
95).  It  has  become  the  duty,  then,  of  every  employer 
who  is  awake  to  his  own  interests  to  test  the  truth  of 
this  position  by  a  fair  and  careful  trial  of  a  shorter 
working-day  in  his  own  factory. 

The  one  condition  on  which  the  eight-hour  day  with 
a  ten-hour  wage  should  be  introduced  is  that  the 
former  ten-hours'  product  shall  be  maintained.  The 
product  must  be  kept  up,  since  it  is  the  source  from 


226    AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM 

which  the  wages  are  to  be  paid.  If  production  de- 
creases with  the  eight-hour  day,  then  wages  must  fall 
as  well  as  profits.  The  argument  for  a  shorter  day  is 
successful  when  appeal  is  taken  to  the  facts  to  find 
what  actual  trial  has  brought  about.  There  have  been 
proved,  again  and  again,  to  be  "  reserves  of  personal 
efficiency "  in  the  ordinary  worker  of  this  age  upon 
which  an  eight-hour  system  may  securely  draw.  The 
modern  workingman  —  quick,  nervous,  and  intelligent 
—  does  his  best  in  very  many  industries  by  working 
eight  hours  only,  and  giving  the  remainder  of  the 
twenty-four  to  rest  and  recreation,  to  the  pleasures  of 
family  life  and  the  improvement  of  his  mind.  Then 
he  is  not  overworked  ;  then  he  is  not  underworked ; 
then  he  is  doing  his  proper  task,  and  what  is  usually 
now  paid  to  him  for  ten  hours'  work  he  can  and  will 
earn  in  eight  hours. 

This  is  the  firm  ground  on  which  to  base  the  de- 
mand for  the  shorter  day.  But  many  trade-unionists 
and  others  leave  this  solid  basis,  and  prefer  to  construct 
a  palace  in  cloudland  by  claiming  that  a  reduction  of 
hours  by  one  fifth  would  increase  the  number  of  work- 
ers needed  one  fifth,  and  thus  solve  the  problem  of 
"  the  unemployed,"  who  would  be  drawn  in  to  do  the 
work.  Mr.  George  Gvmton  believes  that  the  "direct  and 
immediate  effect "  of  the  general  adoption  of  the  eight- 
hour  system  in  the  manual  trades  of  the  United  States 
would  be  to  create  employment  for  3,552,059  more 
adult  laborers.^  This  is  an  effort  to  extract  sunshine 
from  cucumbers.  As  Mr.  Rae  shows,  the  reasoning  "  is 
entirely  illusory.  It  stands  in  absolute  contradiction 
to  our  now  very  abundant  experience  of  the  real  effects 
1  Wealth  and  Progress,  pp.  253  f. 


AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM     227 

of  shortening  the  hours  of  labor,  and  it  stands  in  abso- 
lute contradiction  to  the  natural  operation  of  economic 
forces  to  which  it  professes  to  appeal.  .  .  .  An  eight- 
hour  day  .  .  .  cannot  make  any  serious  impression  on 
the  number  of  the  unemployed.  .  .  .  The  most  popu- 
lar and  trusted  argument  in  favor  of  the  eight-hour 
day  constitutes  really  its  only  serious  practical  danger," 
i.  e.,  in  the  way  of  its  adoption.^ 

An  eight-hour  day  being  a  reasonable  demand,  the 
trade-unions  asking  for  it  should  have  the  support  of 
l^ublic  opinion.  Their  best  way  to  obtain  it  is  probably 
by  insisting  upon  incorporating  it  into  the  agreements 
which  they  make  with  employers.  A  general  law  fix- 
ing eight  hours  as  the  limit  of  a  day's  work  for  all  oc- 
cupations would  plainly  be  very  inexpedient,  owing  to 
the  diversity  of  these  occupations.-  Trade  option  laws, 
giving  the  men  in  a  particular  trade  the  option  to  ap- 
ply or  to  reject  a  general  law,  would  also  be  inferior  in 
efficacy  to  voluntary  agreements,  although  the  progress 
of  the  reform  would  be  apparently  slower  when  thus 
left  to  unions  and  employers  to  adjust. 

It  is  another  matter  for  the  State  to  make  eight 
hours  the  legal  limit  on  all  public  works,  and  thus  set 
an  example  as  an  employer  of  labor.  The  District  of 
Columbia  and  these  States  of  the  Union  have  such 
laws  on  their  statute  books :  Arkansas,  California,  Colo- 
rado, Connecticut,  Idaho,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Kansas, 
Massachusetts,  Minnesota,  Missouri,  Montana,  Ne- 
braska, New  Jersey,  New  Mexico,  New  York,  Ohio, 
Pennsylvania,    Tennessee,   Utah,  Washington,  West 

1  Eight  Hours  for  Work,   pp.  1S0-21G. 

2  Mr.  Rae  points  out  also  that  two  million  persons  are  returned  in 
Great  Britain  as  working  on  their  own  account,  and  they  should  be 
free  to  regulate  their  own  hours. 


228    AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM 

Virginia,  Wisconsin,  and  Wyoming.  In  California, 
Connecticut,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Missouri,  Nebraska, 
New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Wisconsin  eight  hours 
constitute  a  legal  day's  work  for  all  workers,  unless 
specified  otherwise  by  contract  between  employer  and 
employee.  These  laws  do  not  apply  to  agricultural 
work.  In  Massachusetts,  the  governor  of  the  State 
has  recently  vetoed  an  eight-hour  law  as  unconstitu- 
tional, and  the  fortunes  of  such  laws  have  been  very 
"  mixed  "  in  numerous  other  States.  But  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court,  in  December,  1903,  upheld  the 
constitutionality  of  the  Kansas  law,  which  prohibits 
contractors  for  public  work.  State,  county,  or  municipal, 
from  requiring  the  laborers  thereon  to  work  more  than 
eight  hours  a  day.  Six  of  the  nine  judges  declared 
that  no  one  has  a  natural  right  to  be  employed  on 
State  work  ;  that  the  State  may  have  its  work  done  as 
it  sees  fit ;  and  that  the  State,  having  created  munici- 
pal organizations,  can  order  them  to  follow  the  same 
restrictions  as  are  observed  by  the  State.  The  wisdom 
of  such  restrictions  is  a  matter  to  be  determined  by 
the  legislature.  The  highest  court  of  appeal  in  New 
York  State  has  taken  the  same  position.  The  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  had  previously  sanctioned 
as  constitutional  a  statute  of  Utah  applying  the  eight- 
hour  rule  to  private  mining  companies.  But  no  State 
has  yet  passed  an  eight-hour  law  binding  upon  private 
employers  in  general. 

The  trade-unionist's  mistake  in  regard  to  the  effect 
of  an  eight-hour  day  on  the  unemployed  appears  again 
in  the  weakest  point  of  all  his  logic.  Whenever  he 
advocates  measures  which  would  actually  decrease  the 
output,  he  is  cutting  the  ground  from  beneath  his  own 


AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM     229 

feet,  as  lie  is  decreasing  the  amount  from  which  wages 
are  to  come.  On  no  point  of  criticism  of  trade-union 
policy  is  there  a  more  general  agreement  among  the 
friends  and  the  opponents  of  trade-unionism  ^^er  se 
than  upon  this  judgment  that  the  trade-unions  as  a 
body,  in  England  and  America,  deliberately  endeavor, 
by  various  rules  as  to  the  work  to  be  performed  by 
their  members,  to  diminish  the  amount  which  would 
otherwise  be  performed.  J.  E.  Cairnes,  in  his  unsym- 
pathetic treatment  of  trade-unionism,^  quoted  from 
W.  T.  Thornton,  "On  Labour,"  numerous  examples  of 
rules  intended  to  have  the  effect  of  "  making  work  " 
among  brick-layers,  masons,  plasterers,  and  others ; 
these  have  become  familiar  to  readers  of  economic 
literature  by  frequent  repetition  since.  Thornton,  of 
course,  did  not  approve  these  absurd  rules,  —  that  no 
man,  for  instance,  shall  carry  more  than  eight  or  ten 
or  twelve  bricks  at  a  time,  as  the  case  may  be ;  but 
Cairnes  criticised  him  as  holding  a  position  which 
would  justify  such  action,  i.  c,  that  the  quantity  of 
labor  to  be  done  at  any  time  is  affixed  amount,  and 
therefore  the  more  one  workingman  does,  the  less  there 
is,  or  will  be,  for  others  to  do.  Unionists  think  it  wrong, 
therefore,  for  "  one  man  to  do  the  work  of  two,"  as 
this  is  "  taking  away  the  work  of  another  man." 

No  recent  writer  has  more  neatly  exposed  this 
"  lump-of-labor  fallacy "  than  Mr.  D.  F.  Schloss,  in 
his  valuable  work  on  "  Methods  of  Industrial  Remu- 
neration "  (pp.  80-86,  third  edition).  It  is  a  fallacy 
which  cannot  be  too  soon  driven  out  from  trade-union 
logic.    As  Mr.  C.  M.  Schwab  said  to  the  New  York 

^  Some  Leading  Principles  of  Political  Economy  Newly  Expounded, 
part  ii.  chs.  iii.,  iv. 


230    AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM 

Conference  on  Industrial  Conciliation  in  1901 :  "  La- 
bor unions  will  never  succeed,  as  trusts  never  suc- 
ceeded, that  attempt  to  restrict  the  output,  or  that 
attempt  to  put  any  restriction  upon  trade  in  general. 
These  trusts  that  are  formed  in  a  business  way  to  con- 
trol the  output  of  any  commodity,  to  raise  its  price, 
all  have  failed,  and  all  will  fail.  A  trust  will  succeed 
where  there  are  motives  of  consolidation  for  economy's 
sake,  and  for  regulating  trade  generally.  Aiid  the  la- 
borer must  take  a  similar  position.  Labor  must  not 
restrict  the  output.  That  is  a  fundamental  principle. 
And  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  every  labor  organization 
with  which  I  have  had  experience  in  the  past  has  had 
as  its  foundation  the  restriction  of  the  output.  It  is 
that  prmciple  which  is  putting  English  commerce  and 
English  trade  in  the  bad  position  in  which  they  are 
to-day."  ^  So  the  English  wi-iter,  Mr.  W.  R.  Lawson, 
while  discounting  patriotic  American  views  of  the 
superiority  of  the  American  workman  to  the  English, 
declares  that  after  English  unionists  have  abandoned 
"  their  suicidal  antipathy  to  machines  .  .  .  several  of 
their  other  fallacies  will  have  to  follow.  '  Making  the 
work  go  round '  will  become  an  obsolete  doctrine.  Re- 
stricting output  will  in  its  turn  have  to  give  way.  The 
'  ca'  canny '  system  altogether  will  have  to  go."  ^ 

It  is  common  for  trade-unionists  and  their  advocates 
to  deny  the  existence  of  a  desire  to  limit  the  output 
on  the  part  of  the  unions,  but  the  fairest  exponents  of 
the  system  of  organizations  of  the  workingmen  see  that 

^  Industrial  Conciliation,  p.  38.  See  part  ii.  of  La  Crise  du  Trade- 
Unionisme,  by  P.  Mantoux  and  M.  Alfossa,  and  Mr.  A.  Maurice  Low's 
paper  on  "  Labor  Unions  and  British  Industry  "  in  the  Bulletin  of 
the  Bureau  of  Labor,  No.  50,  January,  1904. 

2  American  Industrial  Problems,  p.  87. 


AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM     231 

"  there  has  always  been  a  strong  tendency  among 
labor  organizations  to  discourage  exertion  beyond  a 
certain  limit.  The  tendency  does  not  always  express 
itself  in  formal  rules.  On  the  contrary,  it  appears 
chiefly  in  the  silent,  or  at  least  informal,  pressure  of 
working-class  opinion.  It  is  occasionally  embodied  in 
rules  which  distinctly  forbid  the  accomplishment  of 
more  than  a  fixed  amount  of  work  in  a  given  time ; 
but  such  regulations  are  always  felt  by  employers, 
and  almost  always  by  other  persons  who  are  not  of 
the  wage-working  class,  to  be  obviously  unjust,  short- 
sighted, and  socially  injurious."  ^  Collective  bargain- 
ing, of  course,  demands  that  piece-work  rates  shall  be 
so  determined  that  the  average  workman  shall  be  able 
to  make  a  fair  day's  wage,  but  if  the  "  chaser,"  or 
"  hustler,"  is  to  be  set  aside  in  fixing  the  "  fair  day's 
work  "  in  justice  to  the  workman,  the  idler  and  the 
incompetent  must  be  set  aside  in  justice  to  the  em- 
ployer. In  Chicago,  master  plumbers  asserted  in  1900 
that  some  of  the  detailed  rules  of  the  unions  made  it 
an  offence  for  a  man  to  do  more  than  what  actually 
amounted  to  a  third  of  a  good  day's  work.  "Any 
member  guilty  of  excessive  work  or  rushing  on  any 
job  shall  be  reported,"  said  the  rules  of  the  Chicago 
carpenters,  "  and  shall  be  subject  to  a  fine  of  $5.00." 

Despite  all  the  minor  arguments  brought  forward 
in  defence  of  rules  restricting  the  output,  it  remains 
true  that  the  unions  had  best  abolish  all  such  regada- 
tions  and  look  rather  to  the  shorter  day  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  workman  against  undue  strain. 

Trade-unions   were  formerly  the   subject  of  much 

^  Dr.  E.  Dana  Diirand,  in  the  Beport  of  the  Industrial  Commission, 
vol.  xvii.  p.  Iviii. 


232    AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM 

criticism  because  of  their  rules  regulating  the  number 
of  apprentices  to  be  employed  in  an  establishment. 
The  purpose  of  these  regulations  was  to  prevent  the 
over-crowding  of  the  trade  and  the  consequent  reduc- 
tion of  wages.  The  cordwainers  of  New  York  city, 
for  instance,  who  struck  in  1809,  had  a  rule  that  no 
master  cordwainer  should  employ  more  than  two  ap- 
prentices.^ In  England,  to-day,  "  the  great  printing 
office  of  the  '  Manchester  Guardian,'  employing  over 
a  hundred  compositors,  is  allowed  to  take  no  more 
apprentices  than  the  jobbing  master  with  a  dozen 
men."  ^  Such  rules  as  these  soon  defeat  the  purpose 
of  their  makers,  as  the  business  cannot  be  carried  on 
with  so  few  recruits.  The  usual  practice  is  for  the 
unions  to  agree  to  so  many  apprentices  to  a  certain 
nmnber  of  journeymen.  The  English  boiler  makers 
thus  allow  two  apprentices  to  seven  journeymen ;  the 
felt  hat  makers  and  the  flint  glass  cutters,  one  to  five; 
the  flint  glass  makers,  one  to  six ;  the  Nottingham 
lace  makers,  one  to  seven ;  the  Yorkshire  stuff  press- 
ors and  the  pearl  button  makers,  one  to  ten. 

The  boiler  makers  outnumber  all  the  other  English 
unions  in  which  there  is  any  effective  regulation  of 
the  number  of  apprentices.  The  custom  of  patrimony 
(allowing  a  journeyman  father  to  make  an  apprentice 
of  his  son)  has  practically  nullified  restrictive  rules 
as  to  the  number  of  apprentices  in  numerous  trades. 
The  whole  system  of  apprenticeship  has  been  so  disin- 
tes^rated  in  modern  times  that  the  rules  of  the  unions 
are  actually  of  little  importance,  whatever  may  be  the 

1  The  Acquisition  of  Political,   Social,  and   Industrial  Rights  of 
Man  in  America,  by  John  Bach  McMaster,  p.  59. 
-  Industrial  Democracy,  p.  400. 


AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM     233 

desire  of  unionists  to  control  the  market  for  labor  in 
this  way.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb  estimate  that  out  of  a 
total  trade-union  membership  of  1,490,000  in  1902,  a 
membership  of  only  15,000  was  in  unions  which  ac- 
tually enforced  apprenticeship  regulation s.^  The  com- 
positors and  the  cotton-spinners  are  two  especially  in- 
teresting trades  in  which  no  such  rules  appear. 

It  is  needless  to  dwell  upon  the  theory  of  trade- 
unionism  in  this  direction,  as  the  question  of  appren- 
tices lacks  actuality.  No  sufficient  substitute  for  the 
old  apprentice  system  has  yet  been  found,  but  it  is 
not  likely  that  the  system  will  be  generally  revived, 
as  it  has  little  support  to-day  from  workingmen  or 
employers. 

A  very  important  matter  upon  which  American 
trade-unionists  properly  lay  stress  in  their  list  of  re- 
forms needed  to  improve  the  lot  of  the  workingman, 
is  the  liability  of  the  employer  in  case  of  accident 
hapj)ening  to  the  employee.  The  common-law  doctrine 
which  made  the  employer  liable  to  the  injured  em- 
ployee only  in  case  the  latter  could  actually  prove 
negligence  on  the  part  of  the  employer  has  become 
antiquated  through  the  revolution  in  industrial  con- 
ditions. The  "  feUow-servant  "  doctrine,  according  to 
which  a  workman  has  to  bear  all  the  risks  of  incom- 
petence or  negligence  on  the  part  of  any  or  all  of  his 
many  co-workers,  is  plainly  inequitable.  The  princi- 
ples of  the  English  Workmen's  Compensation  Act  of 
1867  should  be  incorporated  into  American  law  as 
soon  as  possible,  and  the  efforts  of  the  trade-unions 
in  this  direction  deserve  the  heartiest  support.  The 
fellow-servant  doctrine  shoidd  be  completely  cast  out, 
1  Industrial  Democract/,  p.  474,  n. 


234    AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM 

and  tlie  employer  be  required  to  compensate  his  work- 
men injured  in  any  way  except  through  their  own 
gross  carelessness.  "  The  burdens  entailed  by  indus- 
trial accidents  should  be  made  to  constitute  a  normal 
item  in  the  cost  of  operation  or  production,  and  there- 
fore to  be  borne  by  the  employers,"  as  Mr.  Willoughby 
declares  in  his  authoritative  volume,  "  Workingmen's 
Insurance."  The  scale  of  indemnity  should  be  set 
forth  in  the  law,  in  order  to  avoid  the  burden  of  liti- 
gation over  the  amount  of  compensation  to  be  awarded, 
A  reform  in  the  laws  concerning  the  liability  of  em- 
ployers is  a  supreme  need  in  America.  "  It  would  be 
difficult  to  think  of  another  field  of  social  or  legal  re- 
form in  which  the  United  States  is  so  far  behind  other 
nations."  ^ 

The  trade-unions  seek  a  monopoly  of  the  supply  of 
labor  in  order  that  they  may  control  the  situation  and 
push  up  wages  to  the  highest  possible  point.  The 
policy  of  intimidation  of  non-unionists  has  no  other 
reason  than  this.  But  the  plan  is  a  mistaken  one,  if 
unionists  hope  or  expect  to  enlist  practically  all  labor- 
ers, skilled  and  unskilled,  under  the  union  banners.  The 
number  of  these  laborers  is  far  too  gi-eat,  and  the  diffi- 
cidties  in  the  way  of  holding  them,  if  once  they  could 
be  got  together,  would  be  insuperable.  The  organization 
of  unskilled  workingmen  for  any  length  of  time  is  a  task 
to  which  English  trade-unionism  has  repeatedly  shown 
itself  inadequate,  and  the  attempt  has  not  even  been 
made  in  this  country.  Out  of  the  vast  mass  of  un- 
skilled laborers  men  are  rising  by  thousands  every 
year  into  the  number  of  the  skilled  workers,  and  many 
of  these  men  are  most  refractory  material  for  unionism. 

^  W-  F.  Willoughby,  Workingmen''s  Insurance,  p.  329. 


AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM     235 

If  we  dismiss  from  consideration  all  the  unskilled,  the 
skilled  laborers  are  still  a  host  quite  unmanageable  by 
any  autocrat  or  by  any  committee  that  the  laboring 
world  has  yet  known.  It  is  a  steadily  dissolving  and 
steadily  reintegrating  host.  Granting  all  that  may 
be  correctly  said  about  the  lessening  of  opportunity 
to-day  for  the  workingman  to  rise  in  the  world,  the 
opportunity  left  by  modern  large-scale  production  is 
still  large  enough  to  draw  off  the  men  who  would 
otherwise  be  the  leaders  of  unionism,  and  to  make  a 
close  organization  of  the  laboring  popidation  imder 
the  lead  of  its  real  aristocracy  impossible.  With  all 
respect  to  the  actual  leaders  of  trade-unionism,  it  is 
plain  that  few  of  them  are  the  equals  in  ability  of  the 
laboring  men  who  have  risen  to  be  great  employers, 
or  the  assistants  of  great  employers.  Trade-unionism 
can  offer  no  such  field  for  exceptional  talent  as  the 
world  without  affords.  Trade-unionists,  in  aU  pro- 
bability, will  remain,  then,  a  large  but  very  changeable 
body,  having  a  precarious  hold,  on  the  lower  level,  of 
a  few  of  the  unskilled  workers,  and  constantly  losing, 
on  the  upper  level,  its  strongest  men  to  the  powers  of 
capitalism. 

No  policy  of  intimidation  will  succeed,  in  a  free 
country,  in  bringing  aU  non-unionists  over.  Trade- 
unionism  wiU  have  to  content  itself  with  being  a 
virtual  monopoly  in  some  small  trades,  and  with  hold- 
ing a  powerfid  position  in  numerous  other  occupations. 
But  to  make  great  advances  it  is  not  necessary  that 
all  the  workers  in  a  trade  shaU  be  unionists.  If  union- 
ism numbers  an  active  majority  of  the  carpenters  or 
the  engineers,  it  can  achieve  well-nigh  all  that  would 
be  possible  for  the  whole  body  of  workmen  in  either 


236      AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM 

of  these  occupations.  As  they  are  not  likely  ever  to 
convert  the  whole  body  in  the  large  trades,  the  unions 
should  be  content  to  raise  the  quality  of  the  mem- 
bership they  have,  and  to  make  themselves  indispensable 
through  ability  and  character,  rather  than  formidable 
through  simple  mass. 

The  "  recognition  of  the  union  "  is  a  not  infrequent 
cause  of  strikes.^  This  is  a  term  with  which  the  unionist 
is  too  apt  to  palter  in  a  double  sense.  If  "  recognition  " 
means  what  it  does  elsewhere,  then  the  employer  who 
is  ready  to  conduct  negotiations  and  make  agreements 
with  a  union  recognizes  it.  Such  recognition,  as  we 
have  repeatedly  had  occasion  to  remark,  is  conceded 
to-day  by  enlightened  employers.  But  this  recogni- 
tion does  not  necessarily  mean  that  only  unionists  may 
be  employed  by  such  an  employer.  This  is  quite  a 
different  matter.  It  is  not  a  "  recognition "  of  the 
union,  but  a  submission  to  it,  implying  a  non-recogni- 
tion, an  exclusion  in  fact,  of  all  non-unionists.  This 
attempt  to  make  the  employer  an  active  ally  of  the 
union  is  a  virtual  confession  by  the  unionist  that 
he  has  not  perseverance  enough  to  convert  the  non- 
unionist,  and  therefore  wishes  the  employer  to  fight 
his  battles  for  him. 

The  "open  shop,"  on  the  contrary,  is  the  fighting 
line  for  the  employer  to  take.  He  will  have  behind 
him  public  opinion,  which  believes  that  non-unionists 
have  rights  which  unionists  must  be  obliged  to  respect. 

^  The  Report  of  the  Anthracite  Coal  Strike  Commission,  says  (p.  31): 
"  The  occasion  of  the  strike  of  1902  was  the  demand  of  the  United  Mine 
Workers  of  America  for  an  increase  in  wages,  a  decrease  in  time,  and 
the  payment  for  coal  by  weight  wherever  practicable  and  where  then 
paid  by  the  car.  The  cause  lies  deeper  than  the  occasion,  and  is  to 
be  found  in  the  desire  for  the  recognition  by  the  operators  of  the 
miners'  union." 


AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM     237 

The  vigorous  words  of  the  Anthracite  Strike  Commis- 
sion on  this  subject  cannot  be  improved  upon.  They 
have  commanded  the  substantial  assent  of  the  whole 
American  people :  "  The  right  to  remain  at  work 
where  others  have  ceased  to  work,  or  to  engage  anew 
in  work  which  others  have  abandoned,  is  part  of  the 
personal  liberty  of  a  citizen  that  can  never  be  sur- 
rendered, and  every  infringement  thereof  merits,  and 
should  receive,  the  stern  denouncement  of  the  law.  All 
government  implies  restraint,  and  it  is  not  less,  but 
more,  necessary  in  self-governed  communities,  than  in 
others,  to  compel  restraint  of  the  passions  of  men 
which  make  for  disorder  and  lawlessness.  Our  lan- 
guage is  the  language  of  a  free  people,  and  fails  to 
furnish  any  form  of  speech  by  which  the  right  of  a 
citizen  to  work  when  he  pleases,  for  whom  he  pleases, 
and  on  what  terms  he  pleases,  can  be  successfidly  de- 
nied. The  common  sense  of  our  people,  as  well  as  the 
common  law,  forbids  that  this  right  should  be  assailed 
■with  impunity.  It  is  vain  to  say  that  the  man  who 
remains  at  work  while  others  cease  to  woi'k,  or  takes 
the  place  of  one  who  has  abandoned  his  work,  helps  to 
defeat  the  aspirations  of  men  who  seek  to  obtain  better 
recompense  for  their  labor,  and  better  conditions  of 
life.  Approval  of  the  object  of  a  strike,  or  persuasion 
that  its  purpose  is  high  and  noble,  cannot  sanction  an 
attempt  to  destroy  the  right  of  others  to  a  different 
opinion  in  this  respect,  or  to  interfere  with  their  con- 
duct in  choosing  to  work  upon  what  terms  and  at  what 
time  and  for  whom  it  may  please  them  so  to  do. 

"  The  right  thus  to  work  cannot  be  made  to  depend 
upon  the  approval  or  disapproval  of  the  personal 
character  and  conduct  of  those  who  claim  to  exercise 


238     AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM 

this  right.  If  this  were  otherwise,  then  those  who  re- 
main at  work  might,  if  they  were  in  the  majority,  have 
both  the  right  and  the  power  to  prevent  others,  who 
choose  to  cease  work,  from  so  doing. 

"  This  all  seems  too  plain  for  argument.  Common 
sense  and  common  law  alike  denounce  the  conduct 
of  those  who  interfere  with  this  fimdamental  right  of 
the  citizen.  The  assertion  of  the  right  seems  trite  and 
commonplace,  but  that  land  is  blessed  where  the  maxims 
of  liberty  are  commonplaces."    (Report,  p.  75.) 

A  minor  weapon  of  the  unions  is  the  "  union  label," 
a  device  of  some  sort  affixed  to  a  manufactured  article, 
indicating  that  it  was  made  by  "  imion  labor."  Many 
persons  believe  that  it  is  the  most  powerful  weapon  of 
organized  labor,  but  special  investigation  of  the  work- 
ings of  the  label  does  not  seem  to  the  judicious  to  pro- 
mise for  it  a  brilliant  future.^  The  families  of  unionists 
do  not  appear  to  buy  these  labelled  goods,  as  a  rule ; 
they  get  better  bargains  in  buying  non-label  goods. 
"  The  label  clothing  in  gi*eatest  demand  was  working- 
men's  overalls.  In  some  cases  purchase  of  these  was 
compulsory  by  reason  of  the  one-dollar  fine  imposed  by 
the  union  for  wearing  so-called  '  scab  '  overalls."  The 
details  impartially  reported  by  Mr.  Boyle  indicate  a 
losing  cause.  Even  a  prominent  labor  leader  in  the 
city  declared,  "  The  label  is  a  mistake  ;  it  is  contrary 
to  human  nature.  .  .  .  We  hope  nothing  from  the 
label."  2    Without  the    boycott,    now   generally  pro- 

^  See,  for  instance,  a  thorough  study  of  the  Union  Label  in  Milwau- 
kee, where  there  is  a  great  "  political  demand  for  union  label  goods," 
in  the  American  Journal  of  Sociology  for  September,  1903,  by  Mr. 
James  E.  Boyle. 

■■^  The  monstrosity  of  a  "  onion  label  funeral  "  has  recently  appeared 
in  Chicago. 


AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  TRADE-UNIONISM     239 

noimced  illegal  throughout  the  country,  the  label,  says 
Mr.  Boyle  truly,  "  loses  at  once  a  large  part  of  its 
power,  for  it  has  more  success  in  boycotting  an  '  un- 
fair '  merchant  than  in  building  up  a  '  fair '  one."  The 
abolition  of  child  labor  is  the  ground  on  which  the  label 
makes  its  strongest  appeal,  but  there  are  better  ways 
for  abolishing  child  labor  than  such  a  mistaken  policy 
of  influencing  the  consumer. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

INDUSTRIAL   WAR 
I.    STRIKES   AND   LOCKOUTS 

Modern  workmen,  as  we  have  seen,  have  their  ideals. 
In  order  to  realize  these  ideals  they  combine  and  make 
specific  demands  on  their  employers,  in  regard  to  wages 
and  hours  and  conditions  of  work.  If  these  demands, 
in  a  particular  case,  are  granted  at  once,  the  status 
quo  continues ;  that  is  to  say,  industrial  peace  persists. 
A  new  bargain  is  made,  and  there  is  no  rupture  of  the 
relations  of  the  employer  and  the  employee.  But  most 
bargains,  whether  for  services  or  for  commodities,  are 
not  made  at  once.  In  the  majority  of  cases  there  is  some 
hitch  and  some  delay.  How,  then,  shall  the  inevitable 
differences  between  the  employer  and  the  employee  be 
adjusted  ?  The  most  obvious  course  for  the  determined 
worker  or  employer  is  to  insist  on  his  own  demand.  In 
taking  this  stand  the  trade-unions,  as  a  rule,  use  two 
weapons  (to  employ  terms  of  war)  and  the  employer 
two.  The  strike  and  the  boycott  on  one  side  corre- 
spond to  the  lockout  and  the  blacklist  on  the  other. 

Let  us  first  consider  the  workman's  natural  weapon, 
the  strike.  The  strike  is  a  concerted  refusal  of  a  body 
of  workmen  to  work  longer  for  a  particular  employer 
until  some  demand  made  by  them  has  been  granted 
by  him,  or  some  demand  made  by  him  and  objection- 
able to  them  is  withdrawn  or  modified.  As  a  residt  of 
this  refusal,  the  men  go  out  "on  strike."    They  stop 


INDUSTRIAL    WAR  241 

their  machines,  put  clown  their  tools,  and  leave  the 
establishment ;  and  they  stay  out  while  "  on  strike," 
without  making  any  immediate  attempt  to  procure 
work  elsewhere.  This  situation  continues  with  various 
more  or  less  peaceful  episodes  of  picketing  and  intimi- 
dation, and  endeavors  to  affect  public  opinion  favorably, 
until  the  dispute  has  been  adjusted  in  some  way  and 
the  strikers  return  to  work  in  the  establishment.  If 
it  is  not  adjusted,  they  find  work  elsewhere,  and  the 
employer  fills  their  places  in  time.  Evidently,  if  the 
men  are  banded  together  in  a  trade-union,  they  stand  a 
much  better  chance  to  win  than  if  they  were  acting 
purely  as  individuals. 

Strikes  are  not  always  the  work  of  trade-unionists. 
They  may  take  place  as  the  result  of  a  wave  of  feel- 
ing passing  through  a  body  of  workmen,  even  if  not 
one  of  them  is  connected  with  a  trade-union.  If  the 
men  are  not  organized,  however,  the  prospect  of  their 
succeeding  is  not  brilliant,^  —  no  such  prospect  as  they 
would  have  if  organized  into  a  strong  trade-union,  with 
a  long  history  and  a  full  treasury  behind  it.  The  union 
usually  has  funds  which  have  gradually  accumulated 
from  fees  and  other  dues  from  the  members.  Out  of 
these  funds  an  allowance  is  given  to  each  striker  while 
the  strike  continues,  the  so-called  "  strike  money."  K 
the  strike  is  prolonged,  other  unions  may  come  to  the 
aid  of  the  striking  union,  with  funds  out  of  their  treas- 
uries. Thus,  the  fuller  the  treasuries,  the  longer  the 
strike  will  probably  last.  The  employer  may  become 
discouraged  after  a  time  and  seek  to  make  terms. 

1  See,  for  an  instance  of  success  under  such  conditions,  Mr.  J.  R.  Bu- 
chanan's 'Story  of  a  Labor  Agitator,  ch.  iii.,  on  the  strike  in  the  shops  of 
the  Missouri  Pacific  Railway  in  1872. 


242  INDUSTRIAL    WAR 

Non-unionists  on  strike  liave  no  compact  local  or- 
ganization to  encourage  them,  and  no  fellow-feeling  with 
the  members  of  a  national  union  and  with  other  trade 
associations  inclined  to  come  to  their  assistance.  They 
have  probably  but  limited  savings  to  fall  back  upon, 
and  when  these  are  exhausted,  they  must  appeal  to 
their  friends  and  the  pubhc,  whose  sympathy  is  uncer- 
tain. Voluntary  contributions  in  behalf  of  the  ordinary 
strike  are  a  very  precarious  resource.^ 

The  longer  the  strike  continues,  supported  by  large 
funds,  the  greater  is  the  probability  that  the  employer 
wiU  wish  to  compromise.  He  has  learned  to  appreciate 
the  strength  of  the  strikers,  and  if  they  can  apparently 
hold  out  for  months  to  come,  without  seeing  the  bot- 
tom of  their  treasury,  he  will  be  concerned  over  the 
steady  losses  which  he  is  incurring.  Nobody  insures 
the  ordinary  employer  against  these.  As  a  rule  he  is 
not  a  member  of  an  association  of  employers,  with  large 
insurance  funds  against  strikes. 

The  history  of  strikes  is  long  and  diversified.  Some 
writers  on  labor  movements  tell  us  that  the  first  strike 
was  that  recorded  in  Exodus  i,  14,  where  it  is  stated 
that  the  Egyptians  made  the  life  of  the  children  of 
Israel  "  bitter  with  hard  bondage,  in  mortar,  and  in 
brick,  and  in  all  manner  of  service  in  the  field,"  and 
that  Pharaoh  (v.  6-8)  "  commanded  the  same  day 
the  task-masters  of  the  people,  and  their  ofiicers,  say- 
ing. Ye  shall  no  more  give  the  people  straw  to  make 
brick,  as  heretofore  ;  let  them  go  and  gather  straw  for 
themselves.    And   the  tale  of  the  bricks,  which  they 

^  The  experience  of  the  organized  dock-strikers  of  London  in  1889 
was  very  unusual.  The  £30,000  which  waa  sent  to  them  from  far-off 
Australia  saved  the  day. 


INDUSTRIAL    WAR  243 

did  make  heretofore,  ye  shall  lay  upon  them  ;  ye  shall 
not  diminish  aught  thereof."  The  Israelites,  however, 
were  not  hired  laborers,  but  a  subject  people,  and  their 
subsequent  departure  from  Egypt  was  not  a  strike  but 
a  servile  insurrection.^  The  chief  resemblance  of  this 
to  a  modern  strike  would  seem  to  be  the  profoimd 
conviction  felt  in  both  cases  that  Jehovah  is  on  the 
side  of  revolt ! 

The  objects  of  strikes  are  many  and  various,  but 
the  ^eat  majority  of  them  come  under  a  few  heads.  The 
strike  may  be  ordered  to  secure  an  advance  in  wages, 
and  generally  this  is  done  in  good  times,  when  condi- 
tions are  favorable  to  the  strikers.  It  may  be  ordered 
to  resist  a  reduction  of  wages  proposed  by  the  em- 
ployer in  hard  times,  when  conditions  seem  to  him  to 
demand  such  a  change  ;  or  to  shorten  the  working  day, 
or  to  resist  an  increase  in  the  length  of  it  demanded 
by  the  employer.  A  strike  may  be  ordered  to  bring 
about  a  change  in  some  method  of  the  work,  —  for  in- 
stance, the  substitution  of  piece-work  for  day-work,  or 
some  change  in  the  materials  used.  The  occasion  may 
be  a  dispute  about  the  number  of  apprentices  to  be 
employed  in  the  factory,  or  some  such  detail  of  the 
industry.  When  a  strike  occurs  after  a  union  man  has 
been  discharged  because  of  his  unionism,  it  is  an  asser- 
tion of  the  right  of  the  men  to  combine  freely.  Trade- 
unionists  often  strike  because  asked  to  work  side  by 
side  with  non-unionists.  This,  of  course,  is  not  a  denial 
by  the  employers  of  the  right  of  workmen  to  combine. 

^  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb  give  a  modern  parallel  in  their  reference  to 
a  strike  of  cotton  spinners  in  Staleybridge,  in  1892,  because  of  a  sup- 
ply of  bad  material  for  their  work.  Mr.  C.  Osborn  Ward,  in  his  two 
volumes  on  The  Ancient  Lowly,  repeatedly  commits  the  error  rejected 
in  the  text. 


244  INDUSTRIAL    WAR 

Workpeople  may  strike  in  order  to  assist  striking 
employees  outside  their  own  factory,  in  the  same  or 
some  other  industry,  in  the  same  locality  or  elsewhere, 
when  they  have  no  grievance  against  their  own  em- 
ployer. This  is  fhe  so-called  sympathetic  strike.  It  is 
a  very  practical  endorsement  by  workmen  of  an  out- 
side strike.  The  method  naturally  receives  much  ap- 
proval from  workingmen  in  general ;  just  as  naturally 
it  receives  the  smallest  amount  of  sympathy  from  the 
public.  In  some  cases  the  general  public  may  suffer 
much  in  consequence,  without  seeing  any  good  reason 
why  workmen  should  strike  against  an  employer  with 
whom  they  have  no  fault  to  find,  as  they  say  them- 
selves. 

The  sympathetic  strike  is  at  least  an  impressive  way 
of  showing  an  actual  union  of  feeling  of  certain  work- 
men with  their  feUow-workmen  throughout  the  trade, 
or  in  other  trades.  The  idea  is  that  all  the  workers 
shoidd  hold  together ;  that  they  are  enlisted  in  a  com- 
mon cause,  and  that  they  ought  to  march  with  even 
step  and  unbroken  front  wherever  their  comrades 
choose  to  lead.  There  is  certainly  an  heroic  aspect  to 
the  situation,  when  the  sympathetic  strike  involves  loss 
and  suffering  for  the  sympathetic  striker.  If,  in  weigh- 
ing these  matters,  one  takes  the  warlike  strain  that 
many  people  fall  into  when  discussing  labor  questions, 
he  may  approve  the  sympathetic  strike  because  it  helps 
the  original  strikers  to  maintain  their  cause,  and  thus 
strengthens  "  the  army  of  labor."  Although  but  a 
small  part  of  the  public  may  endorse  the  method,  it 
may  pave  the  way  for  a  successful  outcome  of  future 
labor  troubles  in  which  the  sympathizers  themselves 
are  involved.    The  sympathetic  strike  is  usually  dis- 


INDUSTRIAL    WAR  245 

couraged,  however,  by  leaders  of  the  labor  movement. 
It  is  now  generally  felt  by  the  wiser  workmen  that 
they  can. do  more  to  help  the  strikers  by  keeping  at 
work  than  by  striking  :  for  they  will  thus  be  able  to 
send  contributions  in  aid  of  the  strike  from  the  trea- 
sury of  their  union. ^ 

The  strike  is  usually  spoken  of  as  a  thing  distinct 
from  the  lockout.  In  a  lockout  the  employer  shuts  his 
works  down  and  shuts  his  workmen  out,  because  they 
will  not  agree  to  some  proposal  which  he  makes.  A 
strike  is  supposed  to  begin  with  the  employee.  But  if 
we  attempt  to  distinguish  sharply  between  disputes  in 
which  the  employer  takes  the  initiative  and  those  in 
which  the  workmen  take  it,  we  often  find  it  practically 
impossible  to  make  the  distinction  with  any  degree  of 
accuracy.  For  instance,  the  employer  comes  to  a  dull 
season,  when  the  demand  for  his  goods  is  not  active, 
and  he  anticipates  bad  markets  for  some  time.  Natu- 
rally he  will  wish  to  take  advantage  of  this  slackness 
in  demand  to  close  down  the  works  for  repairs,  with 
the  intention  of  reopening  when  times  decidedly  im- 
prove. To  bring  this  about,  he  makes  some  demand 
on  his  workpeople  which  he  feels  sure  they  will  refuse 
to  comply  with.  They  do  refuse,  and  go  out.  This  dis- 
pute would  be  set  down  as  a  strike  by  some  authorities, 
but  not  by  others.  In  fact,  the  employer  is  responsi- 
ble, and  it  is  essentially,  although  not  formally,  a  lock- 
out.   The  men,  again,  may  strike  because  they  believe 

^  It  should  be  noted  that  a  jjenoral  lockout  declared  by  an  associa- 
tVon  of  employers,  in  order,  among'  other  purposes,  to  cut  off  such  con- 
tributions, is  of  the  same  nature  as  a  sympathetic  strike.  Theoretically, 
at  least,  it  can  be  justified  only  if  one  is  prepared  to  justify  the  princi- 
ple of  the  sympathetic  strike.  See  Sympathetic  Strikes  and  Sympa- 
thetic Lockouts,  by  F.  S.  Hall,  1898. 


246  INDUSTRIAL    WAR 

that  the  employer  is  going  to  lower  wages,  and  they 
think  it  good  strategy  to  anticipate  him  and  make 
the  first  move.^  In  such  a  case,  had  they  worked  for 
a  short  time  longer,  the  trouble  would  have  been  set 
down  as  a  lockout.  When  they  strike  the  employer 
is  pleased,  and  improves  the  opportunity  to  close  his 
factory  for  an  indefinite  time. 

It  is  comparatively  unimportant  to  distinguish  be- 
tween strikes  and  lockouts,  as  the  number  of  lockouts 
reported  is  only  about  one-twentieth  of  the  number  of 
strikes  taking  place,  according  to  the  statistics  of  the 
last  twenty  years  in  most  modern  countries.  If,  then, 
we  add  to  the  number  of  sti'ikes  the  number  of  lock- 
outs, and  use  for  the  combined  figures  the  term  "  labor 
disputes,"  or  "  labor  difficulties,"  the  residts  at  which 
we  arrive  will  not  materially  differ  from  those  reached 
on  the  basis  of  strikes  proper,  as  reported.  Many 
authorities,  therefore,  now  place  strikes  and  lockouts 
together  under  one  head.  We  find  them  thus  set  down, 
for  instance,  in  the  reports  of  the  English  Board  of 
Trade  since  1893. 

The  legal  right  of  the  employer  to  order  a  lockout 
and  shut  down  his  works  is  perfectly  clear.  According 
to  modern  ideas,  he  is  not  responsible  to  a  law-making 
authority  or  to  a  court  for  the  general  conduct  of  his 
private  business,  —  least  of  all,  for  opening  or  closing 
such  business.  If  he  considers  it  to  his  advantage  to 
shut  down  his  works,  after  reasonable  notice  to  that 
effect,  and  throw  hundreds  of  workmen  out  of  em- 
ployment, it  is  supposed  to  be  his  own  affair.    His 

^  A  notable  instance  in  point  is  the  great  strike  of  the  Amalgamated 
Association  of  Iron,  Steel,  and  Tin  Workers  against  the  United  States 
Steel  Corporation  in  1901. 


INDUSTRIAL    WAR  247 

legal  right  to  close  his  works,  even  without  previous 
notice,  is  certainly  just  as  plain  as  the  right  of  the  men 
to  strike  without  notice. 

The  question  of  the  moral  rights  of  either  party  is 
quite  a  different  matter.  Before  the  employer  shuts 
down  his  factory,  he  ought  to  consider  what  will  be 
the  probable  lot  of  the  workers  whom  he  shuts  out 
for  a  longer  or  a  shorter  time.  It  is  much  to  the  credit 
of  many  employers  in  commercial  crises  that  they  often 
run  their  factories  at  a  loss,  mainly  because  they  wish 
to  keep  their  men  in  work  and  thus  jJrevent  much  hard- 
ship and  suffering.  Of  course  the  employer  hopes  to  re- 
cover later  the  loss  which  he  has  thus  undergone,  but 
this  may  require  a  long  time.  On  the  other  hand,  while 
workmen  have  usually  a  full  legal  right  to  strike  at 
any  time,  they  ought  to  consider,  and  in  many  cases 
they  probably  do  consider,  whether  their  employer  has 
treated  them  generously  in  times  past,  and  especially 
whether  he  has  recovered  from  such  losses  as  have  just 
been  mentioned. 

A  threat  to  strike  and  the  actual  strike  should  be 
carefully  distinguished.  A  threat  to  strike,  especially 
one  that  does  not  name  a  time  for  the  strike  to  begin, 
may  easily  be  withdrawn  in  case  of  resistance.  It  may 
be  followed  by  negotiations  leading  to  a  conciliation 
or  arbitration  of  the  difficulty.  Production  generally 
goes  on  until  the  strike  threatened  becomes  an  actual 
fact.  The  strike  is  an  open  rupture  of  the  previous 
peaceful  relations.  When  the  men  finally  go  out,  it  is 
a  declaration  of  industrial  war ;  and,  although  an 
armed  truce  may  follow  in  most  cases,  the  later  pro- 
ceedings of  both  parties  too  often  remind  us  of  war 
in  the  tented  field.    Martial  law  —  that  is,  the  sus- 


248  INDUSTRIAL    WAR 

pension  of  ordinary  law  —  is  sometimes  declared  of 
necessity  by  the  civil  authorities,  and  actual  war  in 
the  full  sense  of  the  word  ensues,  as  at  Homestead 
in  1892.  The  State  militia,  or  the  regular  troops  of 
the  United  States,  or  both,  are  brought  upon  the 
scene ;  cannon  are  mounted ;  volleys  are  fired  and  re- 
turned ;  numbers  of  men  are  killed  on  both  sides ; 
weeks  or  months  of  bitter  warfare  follow ;  and  at  last 
the  strikers,  defeated  but  not  convinced,  return  to  their 
homes,  if  not  to  their  former  work. 

It  is,  of  course,  the  interference  of  the  strikers  with 
the  business  which  they  have  voluntarily  left  that  leads 
to  this  warfare.  The  employer  does  not  follow  up  men 
who  have  left  his  employ,  to  interfere  violently  with 
their  procuring  work  elsewhere.  The  worst  thing  that 
is  alleged  against  the  employer  by  trade-imionists  is 
his  use  of  the  "blacklist,"  so-called,  but  this  is  not 
a  measure  implying  force.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
strikers  are  not  of  a  mind  to  sit  down  quietly  in  their 
homes  and  let  the  places  which  they  have  abandoned 
be  filled  by  other  men,  unionists  or  non-unionists. 
However  peacefully  inclined  they  may  be  at  first,  they 
are  apt  to  decide  soon  to  use  more  or  less  intimidation, 
or  violence,  iri  order  to  keep  other  workmen  away. 
V^iolence  is  quite  certain  to  occur  when  a  long  strike 
shows  plain  signs  of  breaking  down,  and  the  strikers' 
jjlaces  are  gradually  being  filled  by  "  strike-breakers," 
so-called. 

The  logic  of  the  action  of  the  strikers  in  interfering 
wdth  the  business  of  their  late  employer  is  by  no  means 
flawless.  They  have  declared  that  they  will  not  con- 
tinue to  work  for  him  unless,  let  us  say,  wages  are 
raised  ten  per  cent.    The  employer  refuses  to  do  this, 


INDUSTRIAL    WAR  249 

as  he  has  a  right  to  do.  It  would  then  seem  very 
plain  to  a  third  party  that  they  have  practically  dis- 
charged themselves.  Having  done  this,  it  would  also 
seem  the  only  reasonable  course  for  them  to  leave  the 
employer  alone,  to  quit  the.  factory  and  its  neighbor- 
hood, and  to  go  elsewhere  in  search  of  work.^ 

In  a  lockout  the  employer  discharges  his  workmen 
from  being  his  employees.  In  a  strike  the  workmen 
discharge  him  from  being  their  employer.  They  have 
asserted  that  they  will  stop  work  unless  he  does  cer- 
tain things  which  he  considers  very  undesirable,  if  not 
actually  impossible,  and  he  so  replies.  But  the  strikers 
obviously  feel  that  they  still  have  some  rights  in  the 
factory.  They  believe,  and  their  belief  finds  general 
indorsement  by  the  public,  that  they  are  still,  in  some 
sense,  a  part  of  the  establishment.  The  law  would  not, 
of  course,  enforce  any  such  claim,  made  tacitly  or 
openly.  The  striking  workingman  had  a  right,  while 
he  remained  at  work,  to  demand  the  established  wages 
for  such  work  faithfully  performed ;  he  was  fulfilling 
his  part  of  an  impHed  or  written  agreement.  Having 
refused  to  work  any  longer  on  the  terms  upon  which 
he  entered  the  business,  he  is  no  longer  a  party  to  any 
such  agreement,  and  has  no  rights  under  it.  His  pro- 
posals for  a  new  agreement  having  been  rejected  by 
the  proprietor  of  the  establishment,  what  is  left  for 
him  in  reason  but  to  leave  and  find  work  elsewhere, 
wherever  he  can,  and  at  whatever  wages  he  chooses  to 
accept  ?  He  should  no  longer  trouble  his  former  em- 
ployer,   who  has  ceased  to  be  liis   employer  by  the 

1  Mr.  P.  M.  Arthur,  the  late  chief  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive 
Engineers,  often  declared  that,  in  case  of  a  strike,  the  strikers  should 
go  at  once  to  their  homes  and  remain  there  quietly  until  the  strike  \9 
settled. 


250  INDUSTRIAL   WAR 

striker's  own  act.  He  is  no  longer  teclinically  or  legally 
an  employee  of  the  factory  from  which  he  has  struck, 
and  he  should  so  conduct  himself.  He  should  not  claim 
the  advantages  of  two  contradictory  positions,  —  that 
he  is  an  employee  stdl,  and  that  he  is  subject  to  the 
union  only. 

But  such  considerations  as  these,  however  practical, 
disregard  important  facts.  This  virtual  claim  of  the 
workingman  is  not  to  be  so  easily  rejected.  There  are 
social  aspects  of  the  matter  which  may  not  be  put 
aside,  however  little  they  may  be  set  down  in  statute 
law.  The  striking  workmen  in  a  particular  case  have 
been  a  well-directed  industrial  organization  for  a 
number  of  years,  —  let  us  say,  some  of  them  for  five 
years,  some  for  ten,  some  possibly  for  twenty  years. 
(In  the  Riverside  Press,  where  this  book  is  printed, 
there  have  even  been  times  when  representatives  of  three 
generations  of  the  same  family  were  employed  in  the 
business  at  once.)  They  have  been  working  long  years 
for  their  employer.  They  much  prefer  to  continue, 
and  he  much  prefers  to  have  them  continue,  in  this 
relation,  if  certain  conditions  can  be  satisfactorily  ad- 
justed. Now  it  is  one  side  that  wants  a  change,  now 
the  other.  If  the  changes  are  not  such  as  to  interfere 
essentially  with  the  conduct  of  the  industry,  it  may  be 
far  the  best  way  to  agree  to  them,  at  least  for  a  time 
of  trial.  The  employer  is  always  bound,  as  a  reasonable 
man,  to  remember  that  these  workmen,  when  they  have 
made  a  claim  which  he  has  rejected,  and  have  gone 
out  on  a  strike  to  support  it,  do  not  sustain  the  same 
moral  relation  to  him  as  if  they  had  worked  for  him 
only  casually.  Their  position  is  certainly  not  the  /same 
as  that  of  other  laborers  who  may  at  once  come  in  to 


INDUSTRIAL    WAR  251 

take  their  places.  A  moral  partnership  is  practically 
involved  in  every  wage  contract.  This  is  an  associa- 
tion sui  generis,  as  M.  E.  Chevallier  calls  it.  It  be- 
comes more  exigent  as  time  goes  on,  and  it  is  not  one 
to  be  lightly  disregarded.^ 

The  striking  workmen,  again,  as  a  rule,  prefer  to 
return  to  the  establishment  that  they  have  left,  if  their 
terms  are  accepted,  rather  than  take  employment  else- 
where on  the  same  terms.  They  have  taken  a  stand 
in  which  they  actually  wish  and  expect  further  nego- 
tiations as  to  terms  of  agreement.  Neither  party,  at 
the  beginning  of  a  labor  dispute,  issues  a  real  ultima- 
tum, whatever  it  may  say.  While  declaring,  perhaps, 
that  only  one  solution  wiU  be  accepted  by  it,  —  i.  e.,  its 
own  terms,  —  it  really  is  holding  the  matter  open  for 
other  possible  solutions.  It  is  this  fact  which  explains 
its  attitude  and  that  of  the  sympathetic  public.  The 
wise  employer  usually  prefers  to  have  strikers  return, 
even  if  the  strike  has  been  long  and  violent.  He  has 
numerous  good  reasons  for  this  feeling.  For  one  thing, 
it  would  be  a  continuous  loss  to  him  to  take  on  new 
workmen  until  they  became  as  proficient  as  the  men 
whom  he  has  lost  by  the  strike.  In  the  great  majority 
of  strikes  the  question  is  commonly  a  matter  of  minor 
terms  and  conditions ;  it  is  not  a  matter  of  the  life  or 
the  death  of  the  business.  There  is  a  fair  chance  of 
adjustment  if  both  parties  become  more  reasonable, 
and  the  parties  are  wise  to  continue  the  status  quo 
imtil  all  possibility  of  a  settlement  has  disappeared. 

The  men  are  still  the  employer's  workmen  in  some 
moral  sense  ;  they  still  refer  to  the  shop  as  their  shop 
and  to  him  as  their  employer,  and  he  is  likely  to  speak 

^  See  A  Dividend  to  Labor,  chaps,  i.  ii.  xi. 


252  INDUSTRIAL    WAR 

of  them  as  his  workmen,  both  parties  implying  that 
there  is  yet  a  tie  of  some  kind  between  them.  This 
being  the  case,  —  the  employer  really  desiring  them 
to  come  back  to  work  and  they  actually  wishing  to  re- 
turn, —  they  usually  do  return  on  the  concession  of 
certain  points.  Strilung  workmen  have  some  moral 
rights,  if  not  technical  or  legal  rights,  in  their  gen- 
eral position  toward  their  recent  employer.  The  "  cash 
nexus "  is  not  the  only  one.  When  that  has  been 
broken,  and  wages  are  no  longer  paid  and  received, 
there  is  still  a  bond  of  some  sort ;  so  they  feel,  and 
society  substantially  agrees  with  them.  Modern  in- 
dustry has  little  use  for  the  employer  who  says  that 
under  no  circumstances  shall  a  workman  receive  em- 
ployment again  in  his  factory,  because  he  has  once 
joined  in  a  strike,  —  a  thing  he  had  a  perfect  right  to 
do.  It  has  little  use  for  the  workman  who  says  that 
under  no  conditions  will  he  work  again  for  an  em- 
ployer who  fails  in  a  certain  dispute  to  do  what  the 
workman  thinks  his  whole  duty. 

The  statistics  of  strikes  have  been  taken  most  fully 
in  the  United  States,  in  recent  years,  through  the  ef- 
forts of  the  Conunissioner  of  Labor.  In  1888  the  third 
Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  was  published, 
which  dealt  with  strikes  and  lockouts  from  January  1, 
1881,  to  December  31,  1886.  In  1894  the  Commis- 
sioner issued  his  tenth  Annual  Report  on  the  same  sub- 
ject, the  time  covered  being  January  1,  1887-June 
30,  1894  ;  and  in  1901  his  sixteenth  Report,  which 
brings  the  figures  of  strikes  and  lockouts  down  to 
December  31,  1900.  We  have  thus  an  enumeration 
of  the  labor  disputes  which  have  taken  place  in  the 
United  States  during  these  twenty  years,  1881-1900, 


INDUSTRIAL    WAR 


253 


inclusive.  The  three  following  tables,  from  the  last- 
mentioned  report,  give  the  number  and  duration  of 
such  disputes  for  this  period. 


STRIKES,  BY  TEARS,  JANUARY  1,  1881,  TO  DECEMBER  31,  1900. 


Strikes. 

Establishments. 

Is 

«    00 

Employees  thrown 
out  of  employment. 

Year. 

Number. 

Per  cent 
of  total. 

Number. 

Per  cent, 
of  total. 

fe  9  C 

Number. 

Per  cent, 
of  total. 

1881 

471 

2.07 

2,928 

2.49 

6.2 

129,521 

2.12 

1882 

454 

1.99 

2,105 

1.79 

4.6 

154,671 

2.53 

1883 

478 

2.10 

2,759 

2.35 

5.8 

149,763 

2.45 

1884 

443 

1.94 

2,367 

2.01 

.5.3 

147,054 

2.41 

1885 

645 

2.83 

2,284 

1.94 

3.5 

242,705 

3.97 

188G 

1,432 

6.28 

10,053 

8.56 

7.0 

508,044 

8.32 

1887 

1,436 

6.30 

6,589 

5.61 

4.6 

379,676 

G.22 

1888 

906 

3.98 

3,506 

2.98 

3.9 

147,704 

2.42 

1889 

1,075 

4.72 

3,786 

3.22 

3.5 

249,559 

4.09 

1890 

1,833 

8.04 

9,424 

8.02 

5.1 

351,944 

5.76 

1891 

1,717 

7.53 

8,116 

6.91 

4.7 

298,939 

4.90 

1892 

1,298 

5.69 

5,540 

4.71 

4.3 

206,671 

3.38 

1893 

1,305 

5.73 

4,555 

3.88 

3.5 

265,914 

4.36 

1894 

1,349 

5.92 

8,196 

6.98 

6.1 

660,425 

10.82 

1895 

1,215 

5.33 

6,973 

5.93 

5.7 

392,403 

6.43 

1896 

1,026 

4.50 

5,462 

4.65 

5.3 

241,170 

3.95 

1897 

1,078 

4.73 

8,492 

7.23 

7.9 

408,391 

6.69 

1898 

1,056 

4.63 

3,809 

3.24 

3.6 

249,0021 

4.08  » 

1899 

1,797 

7.8« 

11,317 

9.63 

6.3 

417,072 

6.83 

1900 

1,779 

7.81 

9,248 

7.87 

5.2 

505,066 

8.27 

Total 

22,793 

100.00 

117,509 

100.00 

5.2 

6,105,694' 

100.00 » 

LOCKOUTS,   BY  YEARS,  JANUARY  1,  1881,  TO   DECEMBER  31,  1900. 


Lockouts. 

Establishments. 

B  ° 

o  m 
2    !3  O 
^1   = 

Employees  thrown 
out  of  employment. 

Year. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per  cent, 
of  total. 

Number. 

Per  cent, 
of  total. 

Number. 

Per  cent, 
of  total. 

1881 

1882 
1883 
1884 
1885 

6 

22 
28 
42 
50 

.60 
2.19 
2.79 
4.18 
4.97 

9 
42 
117 
3,54 
183 

.09 

.42 

1.18 

3.57 

1.84 

1.5 
1.9 
4.2 
8.4 
3.7 

655 
4,131 
20,512 
18.121 
15,424 

.13 

.82 
4.07 
3.59 
3.06 

1  Not  Including  the  number  in  thirty-three  establishments  for  which  these  data 
were  not  obtainable. 


254 


INDUSTRIAL    WAR 


Lockouts. 

Establishments. 

1° 

0^  to 

Employees  thrown 
out  of  employment. 

III 

Num- 
ber. 

Per  cent, 
of  total. 

Number. 

Per  cent, 
of  total. 

pas 

Number. 

Per  cent, 
of  total. 

1886 

140 

13.93 

1,509 

15.19 

10.8 

101,980 

20.22 

1887 

67 

6.67 

1,281 

12.90 

19.1 

59,630 

11.82 

1888 

40 

3.98 

180 

1.81 

4.5 

15,176 

3.01 

1889 

36 

3.58 

132 

1.33 

3.7 

10,731 

2.13 

1890 

64 

6.37 

324 

3.26 

5.1 

21,555 

4.28 

1891 

69 

6.87 

546 

5.50 

7.9 

31,014 

6.15 

1892 

61 

6.07 

716 

7.21 

11.7 

32,014 

6.35 

1893 

70 

6.96 

305 

3.07 

4.4 

21,842 

4.33 

1894 

55 

5.47 

875 

8.81 

15.9 

29,619 

5.87 

1895 

40 

3.98 

370 

3.73 

9.3 

14,785 

2.93 

1896 

40 

3.98 

51 

.51 

1.3 

7,668 

1.52 

1897 

32 

3.18 

171 

1.72 

5.3 

7,763 

1.&4 

1898 

42 

4.18 

164 

1.65 

3.9 

14,217 

2.82 

1899 

41 

4.08 

323 

3.25 

7.9 

14,817 

2.94 

1900 

60 

5.97 

2,281 

22.96 

38.0 

62,653 

12.42 

Total 

1,005 

100.00 

9,933 

100.00 

9.9 

504,307 

100.00 

DURATION   OF   STRIKES   AND  LOCKOUTS,   JANUARY  1,  1881,  TO 
DECEMBER  31,  1900. 


Strikes. 

Lockouts. 

Year. 

Establishments. 

Average  dura- 
tion (days). 

Establishments. 

Average  dura- 
tion (days). 

1881 

2,928 

12.8 

9 

32.2 

1882 

2,105 

21.9 

42 

105.0 

1883 

2,759 

20.6 

117 

57.5 

1884 

2,367 

30.5 

354 

41.4 

1885 

2,284 

30.1 

183 

27.1 

1886 

10,053 

23.4 

1,509 

39.1 

1887 

6,589 

20.9 

1,281 

49.8 

1888 

3,506 

20.3 

180 

74.9 

1889 

3,786 

26.2 

132 

57.5 

1890 

9,424 

24.2 

324 

73.9 

1891 

8,116 

34.9 

546 

37.8 

1892 

5,540 

23.4 

716 

72.0 

1893 

4,555 

20.6 

305 

34.7 

1894 

8,196 

32.4 

875 

39.7 

1895 

6,973 

20.5 

370 

32.3 

1896 

5,462 

22.0 

51 

65.1 

1897 

8,492 

27.4 

171 

38.6 

1898 

3,809 

22.5 

164 

48.8 

1899 

11,317 

15.2 

323 

37.5 

1900 

9,248 

23.1 

2,281 

265.1 

Total 

117,509 

23.8 

9,933 

97.1 

INDUSTRIAL    WAR 


255 


In  these  twenty  years,  as  the  tables  show,  strikes  in 
the  United  States  numbered  22,793,  affecting  117,509 
establishments,  and  throwing  out  of  work  6,105,694 
employees  (strikes  lasting  one  day,  or  less  than  one 
day,  were  not  reported).  In  the  same  period  there 
were  1,005  lockouts,  affecting  9,933  establishments, 
and  throwing  out  of  work  504,307  employees. 

BOARD  OF  TRADE  FIGURES  FOR  THE  UNITED  KINGDOM. 


Number  of  workpeople 

affected. 

Number 

of 
disputes. 

Aggregate 

Tear. 

Directly. 

Indirectly. 

Total. 

duration  in 

working 

days. 

1891 

906 

203,571 

63,889 

267,460 

6,809,371 

1892 

700 

316,136 

40,663 

356,799 

17,381,936 

1893 

783 

598,534 

87,852 

636,386 

31,205,062 

1894 

929 

257,314 

67,934 

325,248 

9,529,010 

1895 

745 

207,239 

55,884 

263,123 

5,724,670 

1896 

926 

147,950 

50,240 

198,190 

3,746,368 

1897 

864 

167,4.-)3 

62,814 

230,267 

10,345,523 

1898 

711 

200,769 

53,138 

253,907 

15,289,478 

1899 

719 

138,058 

42,159 

180,217 

2,516,416 

1900 

648 

135,145 

53,393 

188,538 

3,152,694 

In  any  particular  year,  however,  one  or  two  great 
strikes  may  affect  a  large  number  of  men  in  a  few  es- 
tablishments. To  understand  the  situation  better,  it 
is  desirable  to  separate  these  gigantic  strikes  from  the 
figures  of  the  more  ordinary  disputes.  The  remaining 
figures  would  show  us  a  large  number  of  establish- 
ments, and  small  averages  of  strikers  and  of  losses,  — 
all  in  comparison  with  the  total  figures.  The  next 
Board  of  Trade  table  gives  such  a  list  of  the  principal 
strikes  in  Great  Britain,  1891-1900,  inclusive:  — 


256 


INDUSTRIAL    WAR 


Principal  disputes  of  the  year. 

All  other  disputes. 

Year. 

Trade  and  locality. 

OP. 

III 

75,000 
50,000 

300,000 

1X),000 

70,000 

46,000 
47,500 
100,000 

Aggregate 
duration 
in  working 
days. 

"S 

u  m 
^% 
II 

o  p.  , 

III 

Aggregate 
duration 
in  working 
days. 

1891 
1892 

1893 

1894 
1895 
1896 
1897 

1898 

1899 
1900 

No  very  large  dispute  .     . 
1  Coal  miners  (Durham) 
J  Textile  operatives  (Lanca- 
(     shire  and  Cheshire)  .     . 
( Coal     miners     (federated 

1      districts)      

I  Coal  miners  (South  Wales) 

Coal  miners  (Scotland)     . 

Boot  and  shoe  operatives 

No  very  large  dispute  .     . 

Engineers 

I  Engineers,  continued    .     . 
1  Coal  miners  (South  Wales) 

No  very  large  dispute  .     . 

No  very  large  dispute  .     . 

4,275,000  i 

5,950,000  j 

23,700,000  ) 
2,340,000  } 
5,600,000 
1,564,000 

)  5,731,000 
\  1,118,000) 
11,650,000) 

906 

698 

781 

928 
744 
926 
863 

i710 

719 
648 

267,460 
231,799 

246,386 

255,248 
217,123 
198,190 
182,767 

153,907 

180,217 
188,538 

6,809,371 
7,156,936 

5,165,062 

3,929,010 
4,160,670 
3,746,368 
4,614,523 

2,521,478 

2,516,416 
3,152,694 

The  table  shows  that  between  1891  and  1900,  out  of 
7,931  disputes,  "  nearly  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  total 
magnitude,  as  measured  by  aggregate  duration,  was 
accounted  for  by  eight  large  disputes,"  the  great  ma- 
jority being  trifling  affairs.  In  1900  "488  of  the  re- 
corded disputes  (or  about  three  fourths  of  the  whole 
number)  accounted  for  only  9  per  cent,  of  the  total 
time  lost,  and  this  after  the  very  small  disputes  have 
been  excluded." 

The  largest  number  of  strikes  in  the  United  States, 
for  the  period  covered  by  the  tables,  took  place  in  the 
building  trades,  in  the  manufacture  of  clothing,  in  the 
coal  and  coke  industries,  in  the  manufacture  of  tobacco 
and  of  boots  and  shoes,  in  the  transportation  indus- 
tries, in  printing  and  publishing  establishments,  and 
in  stone  quarries. 

The  trade-unions  ordered  63.46  per  cent,  of  all  the 
strikes  occurring  between  January  1, 1881,  and  Decem- 


INDUSTRIAL    WAR 


257 


ber  31,  1900  ;  thus  more  than  one  thu"d  of  the  strikes 
were  instituted  by  men  who  went  out  without  orders 
from  labor  organizations.  In  nine  of  the  more  strongly 
organized  trades,  however,  76  per  cent,  of  the  strikes 
were  ordered  by  the  organizations  ;  about  seven  eighths 
of  these  occurred  in  the  building  trades.  In  the  boot 
and  shoe  trades  the  number  of  lockouts  is  especially 
large.  The  building  trades,  the  glass  workers,  and  the 
tobacco  workers  have  also  an  imusuaUy  large  nmnber 
of  lockouts. 

As  regards  statistics  of  the  causes  that  lead  to 
strikes,  we  find,  according  to  the  best  authorities  in 
this  country,  that  70  per  cent,  have  been  ordered  for 
some  ten  simple  causes,  and  60  per  cent,  for  five 
causes.  The  next  table  gives  the  figures  in  regard  to 
the  leading  causes  of  strikes. 


LEADING  CAUSES  OF   STRIKES,   JANUARY   1,   1881,   TO    DECEMBER 
31,  1900. 


Cause  or  object. 


For  increase  of  wages 

For  increase  of  wages  and  reduction  of  hours  . 

For  reduction  of  hours 

Against  reduction  of  wages 

In  sympathy  with  strike  elsewhere      .... 

Against  employment  of  non-union  men    .     .     . 

For  adoption  of  new  scale 

For  recognition  of  union 

For  increase  of  wages  and  recognition  of  union 

For  enforcement  of  union  rules 

For  adoption  of  union  scale 

For  reduction  of  hours  and  against  being  com- 
pelled to  hoard  with  employer 

Against  task  system 

For  reduction  of  hours  and  against  task  system 

For  adoption  of  union  rules  and  union  scale 

For  reinstatement  of  discharged  employees . 

For  increase  of  wages,  Saturday  half -holiday, 
and  privilege  of  working  for  employers  not 
members  of  masters'  association 


Establish- 

Per cent. 

ments. 

33,731 

28.70 

13,201 

11.23 

13,116 

11.16 

8,423 

7.17 

4,078 

3.47 

2,751 

2.34 

2,742 

2.33 

1,649 

1.40 

1,111 

.95 

1,068 

.91 

928 

.79 

927 

.79 

917 

.78 

901 

.77 

880 

.75 

868 

.74 

800 


.68 


258 


INDUSTRIAL    WAR 


Cause  or  object. 

Establish- 
ments. 

Per  cent. 

Against  reduction  of  wages  and  working  over- 

750 
750 
729 

.64 

For  increase  of  wages  and  against  use  of  mate- 
rial from  non-union  establishment         .     .     . 
For  increase  of  wages  and  Saturday  half-holi- 

,64 
.62 

Total  of  20  leading  causes 

All  other  causes  (1,383) 

90,320 
27,189 

76.86 
23.14 

Total  for  the  United  States 

117,509 

100.00 

The  following  table  shows  the  causes  of  strikes  by 
general  groups,  1881-1900:  — 


Causes. 


For  increase  of  wages  and  adoption  of  scales 

Against  decrease  of  wages 

For  reduction  of  hours,  overtime  pay,  holi- 
days, etc 

Regarding  time  and  method  of  paying  wages, 
fines,  screening  of  coal,  company  stores, 
etc 

For  recognition  of  union  and  adoption  of 
union  rules 

In  sympathy  with  strikers  or  men  locked 
out  elsewhere 

Against  employment  of  non-union  men,  fore- 
men, foreigners,  negroes,  etc 

For  employment,  retention,  or  reinstatement 
of  persons 

Regarding  apprenticeship  and  employment 
of  children 

Regarding  use  of  machinery  and  appliances 

Regarding  working  rules  and  miscellaneous 
matters 


Number  of 

establishments 

involved  in 

strikes. 


64,321 
10,843 

40,228 


8,254 

5.3 

9,968 

6.4 

4,700 

3.0 

8,273 

5.3 

1,638 

1.05 

1,223 
221 

.78 
.14 

6,075 

3.9 

155,744 


41.3 


25.8 


100.00 


INDUSTRIAL    WAR  259 

Other  statistics  show  that  58.26  per  cent,  of  Ameri- 
can strikes  have  been  due  to  the  desire  of  workingmen 
for  a  rise  in  wages  or  a  maintenance  of  them,  or  a  re- 
duction of  the  working  hours.  More  than  three  fourths 
of  all  strikes  are  begun  for  twenty  leading  causes,  most 
of  which  bear  upon  wages  or  hours. 

The  figures  as  to  the  success  and  the  failure  of 
strikes  and  lockouts  cannot  claim  a  high  degi'ee  of 
accuracy,  as  the  reports  are  often  obtained  six  months 
or  a  year  after  a  dispute  occurred.  But,  taking  these 
figures  as  the  best  that  can  be  had,  we  find  that  in  a 
little  over  one  half  (50.77  per  cent.)  of  the  whole  num- 
ber of  establishments  involved  in  strikes,  the  strikers 
succeeded.  They  failed  in  36.19  per  cent.  ;  they  par- 
tially succeeded  in  13.04  per  cent.  In  the  disputes 
where  the  employers  forced  the  men  out,  the  operators 
succeeded  in  42.93  per  cent,  of  the  estabhshments  ; 
they  compromised  in  6.28  per  cent.,  and  they  failed  in 
50.79  per  cent.  The  likeness  of  these  figures  shows 
that  men  are  apt  to  make  about  as  many  mistakes  on 
one  side  of  labor  disputes  as  on  the  other. 

The  most  difficult  part  of  statistical  work  connected 
with  labor  disputes  is  to  discover  the  amounts  actually 
lost  through  them  by  each  party.  The  usual  way  to 
learn  what  the  workingmen  have  lost  is  to  compute 
the  number  of  days  that  the  strike  lasts,  and  then 
multiply  this  figure  by  the  wages  per  day  that  the  men 
generally  make.  On  this  basis  we  should  find  that  the 
wages  lost  to  employees  in  the  United  States  during 
the  twenty  years  1881-1900  amounted  to  1257,863, 
478.  The  trade-unions,  out  of  their  treasuries,  contrib- 
uted during  the  same  time,  as  assistance  to  striking 
workmen,  $16,174,793.    The  loss  to  employers  from 


260  INDUSTRIAL    WAR 

strikes  in  the  same  time,  estimated  on  the  basis  of  the 
average  profits  for  this  period  (supposing  that  such  a 
profit  would  have  been  made  in  the  absence  of  strikes 
for  the  twenty  years),  is  reckoned  at  $122,731,121. 

The  loss  resulting  from  lockouts  in  the  same  period 
is  calculated,  by  following  similar  methods,  to  have 
been,  to  employees,  $48,819,745  in  wages  foregone, 
and  $3,451,461  in  assistance  from  union  treasuries; 
to  employers,  $19,927,983. 

The  total  loss  to  employees  from  strikes  and  lock- 
outs was  $306,683,223 ;  to  employers,  $142,659,104. 
The  grand  total  of  loss  to  both  parties  would  be  in 
round  numbers  $449,000,000,  while  the  whole  num- 
ber of  persons  thrown  out  of  work  in  the  United  States 
at  different  times  in  these  twenty  years  was  6,610,001 

These  are  large  figiu-es  for  a  civilized  country  to  face 
Even  when  it  is  a  matter  of  a  division  of  the   $4^ 
000,000  among  the  127,422  establishments  involved 
it  is  a  tremendous  bill.    The  statisticians  remind  us 
indeed,  that  it  is  a  bill  running  through  twenty  years 
so  that  it  means  only  an  annual  loss  of  some  twenty 
two  and  a  half  million  dollars  to  the  country  through 
this  period.    The  optimist  will  compare  this  amount 
with  the  whole  annual  receipts  of  the  laboring  classes, 
amounting  to  billions  of  dollars,  and  will  tell  us  that 
the  loss  is  less  than  one  day's  wages  a  year  to  each 
workingman  employed  in  industries  where  strikes  are 
likely  to  occur. 

The  money  losses  to  the  workers  by  strikes  or  lock- 
outs are  probably  of  much  less  consequence  than  the 
losses  to  the  public,  and  the  moral  results  in  the  alien- 
ation of  employers  and  employed.  A  favorable  quali- 
fication of  importance  is  that  we  must  not  take  it  for 


INDUSTRIAL    WAR  261 

granted  that,  if  these  disputes  had  not  occurred,  the 
workmen  would  certainly  have  been  just  so  many  days' 
wages  better  off.  On  the  contrary,  the  workman  is  apt 
to  be  sick  or  disabled  a  part  of  every  year,  and  he 
may  also  lie  off  for  other  reasons,  so  that  the  average 
number  of  work  days,  in  fairly  good  times,  may  be 
only  two  hundred  out  of  a  possible  three  hundred  and 
thirteen  in  a  Christian  country.  When  we  calculate 
the  number  of  days  a  man  has  been  hindered  from 
working,  the  calculation  is  thus  liable  to  include  a 
considerable  number  of  days  when  he  would  probably 
not  have  been  working,  had  the  dispute  not  happened. 
After  a  prolonged  strike,  again,  the  manufacturer  may 
find  that  he  has  cleared  off  his  stock  at  better  prices 
than  he  would  have  received  had  the  strike  not  oc- 
curred, and  he  has  before  him  a  strong  market,  mak- 
ing a  demand  which  leads  to  steady  work  and  good 
wages  for  a  considerable  time  before  pressuig  needs  are 
satisfied.  For  these  and  other  reasons,  the  usual  simple 
calculations  of  total  losses  to  employers  and  employed, 
caused  by  strikes  and  lockouts,  are  open  to  the  charge 
of  considerable  uncertainty  and  exaggeration. 

"  The  right  to  strike  "  is  to-day  the  right  of  the 
union  to  strike,  not  of  the  individual  workman.  He 
surrenders  any  individual  right  of  the  kind  entirely 
when  he  joins  the  trade-union.  After  that  he  must 
take  part  in  a  strike  ordered  by  the  union,  whether  he 
believes  it  to  be  right  or  judicious  or  not.  If,  on  the 
contrary,  he  desires  to  strike,  and  the  union  says  that 
a  strike  shall  not  take  place,  he  must  refrain  from 
striking,  however  ample  the  justification  may  be  to  his 
private  mind.  He  is  not  allowed  a  voice  in  the  matter 
beyond  his  simple  vote  in  the  meeting  which  orders  or 
forbids  a  strike. 


262  INDUSTRIAL    WAR 

The  contrast  between  the  rights  and  privileges  of 
the  suigie,  unassociated  workman  and  those  of  mem- 
bers of  the  trade-union  is  sufficiently  impressive.  The 
single  workingman  is  comparatively  at  the  mercy  of 
the  employer,  who  may  discharge  him  for  good  reason 
or  for  none.  The  employer  will  hesitate  to  claim  such 
powers  when  he  is  confronted  by  a  trade-union  to 
which  practically  all  the  men  in  his  employment  be- 
long. The  individual  workman,  who  has  just  been  dis- 
charged, immediately  seeks  work  elsewhere.  He  does 
not  consider  that  he  has  a  claim  to  be  treated  any 
longer  as  an  employee  of  that  establishment.  Perhaps 
he  does  not  expect  or  desire  to  return.  He  may  pri- 
vately relate  his  disagreeable  experience  to  other  work- 
men whom  he  chances  to  meet  and  who  think  of  ap- 
plying for  employment  in  that  establishment ;  but  he 
does  not  stand  upon  the  streets  near  the  works,  to  in- 
terfere with  persons  about  to  apply  for  emploj^ment,  — 
that  is  to  say,  he  does  not  practice  "  intimidation  "  or 
"  picketing."  On  the  other  hand,  as  I  have  said,  the 
peculiar  feature  of  an  ordinary  strike  is  that  men 
who  have  agreed,  as  a  body,  to  quit  working  for  their 
emploj^er  unless  he  will  grant  certam  conditions,  leave 
work  when  he  refuses,  but  do  not  consider  that  they 
have  ceased  to  be,  in  some  way  at  least,  connected  with 
the  establishment.  They  apparently  hold  that  the  sit- 
uations still  belong  to  them,  although  they  have  quit 
work  of  their  own  free  will  and  are  no  longer  receiv- 
ing wages.  Any  person  offering  to  take  such  a  vacant 
place  is  a  "  scab,"  or  a  "  rat,"  or  a  "  blackleg,"  or  a 
"  strike-breaker ; "  in  any  case  he  is  declared  a  "  trai- 
tor "  to  the  cause  of  "  labor  "  and  a  conspirator  with 
the  employer  against  right  and  equity. 


INDUSTRIAL   WAR  263 

Under  the  regime  of  the  collective  bargain,  then, 
the  workman  has  given  up  the  right  of  bargaining  for 
himself.  The  trade-union  to  which  he  has  contributed 
from  time  to  time  has  become  his  representative.  The 
"  social  compact  "  theory  of  Rousseau  is  rejected  to-day 
by  the  great  majority  of  students  of  political  science, 
but  there  is  a  real  compact  in  the  case  of  every  trade- 
unionist,  by  which  he  surrenders  his  individual  rights 
to  the  majority  of  the  union.  The  amount  of  freedom, 
in  the  old  sense  of  the  word,  which  the  modern  trade- 
unionist  has  left  is  exceeding  small.  He  is  entirely 
subject  to  majority  rule  in  this  industrial  democracy. 
And  more  and  more  this  democracy  resorts  to  repre- 
sentation, leaving  behind  the  town-meeting  method. 

In  order  to  make  a  strike  effective  and  bring  the 
employer  to  terms,  the  strikers  must  be  in  control  of 
the  particular  labor  market,  so  as  to  keep  the  em- 
ployer from  supplying  the  places  of  the  men  on  strike 
with  other  men  who  are  for  any  reason  willing  to  take 
their  places.  If  the  union  embraces  a  large  majority 
of  the  men  capable  of  filling  these  places,  the  em- 
ployer must  soon  give  in.  But  if  the  union  is  not 
thus  master  of  the  situation  beforehand,  it  will  re- 
sort to  a  practice  to  which  another  military  name  has 
been  given,  i.  e.,  "  picketing."  The  industrial  army  on 
strike  throws  out  small  detachments,  generally  con- 
sisting of  a  few  persons,  who  are  stationed  near  the 
works  where  the  strike  is  on,  and  whose  object  is  to 
engage  in  conversation  with  persons  apparently  seek- 
ing work  there,  and  to  attempt  to  dissuade  them  from 
so  doing.  The  unionist  usually  considers  that  he  has 
a  perfect  right  to  do  this  peaceably,  to  any  extent. 
But  obviously  a  person  seeking  work  has  some  rights 


264  INDUSTRIAL    WAR 

also,  and  among  these  is  a  right  not  to  be  bothered 
and  beset  by  other  persons,  on  his  way  to  work  which 
he  has  freely  chosen.  As  a  matter  of  the  commonest 
fact,  "  peaceful  persuasion  "  of  the  would-be  worker 
from  engaging  with  the  establishment  affected  by  the 
strike  soon  turns  to  threats  of  various  kinds  against 
his  person  or  property.  "  Intimidation  "  is  the  term 
generally  used  to  include  all  such  threats.  The  law 
on  this  subject  is  essentially  the  same  in  Great  Britain 
and  in  this  country.  The  law  seeks  to  maintain  at  the 
same  time  the  right  of  free  speech  for  the  striker  and 
the  right  of  the  other  man  to  seek  work  in  peace. 
Some  notion  of  the  extreme  care  needed  to  discrimi- 
nate between  proper  and  improper  acts  in  this  direc- 
tion may  be  derived  from  this  brief  abstract  of  the 
English  laws  in  respect  to  picketing. 

"  These  provisions  subject  to  a  penalty  of  fine  or 
imprisonment  every  person  who,  with  a  view  to  com- 
pel any  other  person  to  abstain  from  doing,  or  to  do, 
any  act  which  such  other  person  has  a  legal  right  to 
do  or  abstain  from  doing,  wrongfully  and  without 
legal  authority,  (1)  Uses  violence  to  or  intimidates 
such  person,  or  his  wife  or  children,  or  injures  his  pro- 
perty ;  or  (2)  Persistently  follows  such  other  person 
about  from  place  to  place ;  or  (3)  Hides  any  tools, 
clothes,  or  other  property  owned  or  used  by  such  other 
person,  or  deprives  him  of  or  hinders  him  in  the  use 
thereof ;  or  (4)  Watches  or  besets  the  house  or  other 
place  where  such  person  resides,  or  w^orks,  or  carries 
on  business,  or  happens  to  be,  or  the  approach  to 
such  house  or  place ;  or  (5)  Follows  such  other  per- 
son  with  two  or  more  other  persons  in  a  disorderly 
manner  in  or  through  any  street  or  road.    Attending 


INDUSTRIAL    WAR  265 

at  or  near  the  house  or  place  where  a  person  resides, 
or  works,  or  carries  on  business,  or  happens  to  be,  or 
the  approach  to  such  house  or  place,  in  order  to  obtain 
or  communicate  information,  shall  not  be  deemed  a 
watching  or  besetting  within  the  meaning  of  the  Act." 
In  these  days  of  the  printing-press  and  the  telegraph, 
when  it  is  very  easy  to  notify  workmen  and  all  con- 
cerned of  the  fact  of  a  strike,  the  practice  of  posting 
pickets  is  evidently  a  "  survival "  best  relegated  to 
"  innocuous  desuetude." 

We  must  not  forget  that  the  vast  mass  of  labor  dif- 
ficulties in  manufacturing  establishments  are  settled 
without  developing  into  strikes  or  lockouts,  and  that 
the  great  majority  of  so-called  strikes  are  petty  affairs, 
soon  over.  The  influence  of  trade-unions  on  strikes  is 
plainly  to  diminish  the  frequency  of  them  by  extend- 
ing the  area  over  which  they  spread.  In  other  words, 
strikes  are  less  numerous  and  more  widespread  when 
they  occur  than  would  probably  be  the  case  without 
the  organization  of  workingmen. 

The  practice  of  the  different  trade-unions  in  respect 
to  the  initiation  of  strikes  is  diverse.  Some  national 
organizations  strictly  forbid  the  local  imions  to  order 
a  strike  without  their  approval.  Others  leave  this  mat- 
ter to  the  local  unions,  but  require  certain  steps  to  be 
taken  to  secure  deliberation  and"  fairness,  before  a 
strike  is  actually  ordered.  The  national  trade-union 
almost  invariably  demands  that  the  local  union  shall 
make  an  attempt  to  procure  "  arbitration "  for  the 
dispute  before  striking.  If  a  local  union  strikes  with- 
out authority,  the  national  union  will  not  only  refuse 
financial  support  to  the  strikers,  but  will  even  go  so 
far  as  to  expel  from  the  body  strikers  who  refuse 


266  INDUSTRIAl    WAR 

to  obey  orders  to  return  to  work.  In  England,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  organization  of  trade-unions  has  gone 
farther  than  in  this  country,  and  there  the  boiler 
makers'  and  iron  shipbuilders'  unions  have  fined  or 
suspended  disobedient  members  and  officials.  The 
same  medicine  was  given  in  1899  to  the  national 
union  of  boot  and  shoe  operatives.  Under  an  agree- 
ment with  the  Employers  Federation,  it  was  fined 
£300  by  the  umpire,  because  it  did  not  expel  certain 
employees  or  induce  them  to  return  to  work. 

Strikes  have  been  strictly  legal  in  Great  Britain 
since  1871,  and  in  the  United  States  no  other  view  of 
them  has  been  taken  by  the  courts  since  1842.  But, 
as  all  men  know,  considerable  strikes  often  lead  to 
acts  which  are  pronounced  illegal  by  the  courts  and 
inequitable  by  public  opinion. 

It  is  the  natural  desire  of  each  party  to  a  labor  dis- 
pute of  magnitude  to  strengthen  its  cause  by  present- 
ing the  entire  front  of  the  working  classes  on  one  side, 
or  of  the  employing  class  on  the  other,  to  the  opposite 
party.  In  uncivilized  society  the  common  course  for  a 
person  engaged  in  a  feud  is  to  extend  the  feud  as  far 
as  possible,  embroiling  if  he  can  the  whole  commu- 
nity, and  lining  up  everybody  on  one  side  or  the  other, 
until  the  feud  is  fought  out  to  the  bitter  end.  The 
survival  of  such  a  desire  appears  in  two  phenomena 
of  labor  disputes  in  a  civilized  state  which  are  deci- 
sively rejected  and  condemned  by  the  fair-minded. 
One  is  the  Blacklist  and  the  other  is  the  Boycott. 

II.    THE   BLACKLIST   AND   THE    BOYCOTT 

It  will  be  convenient  to  consider  the  blacklist  before 
the  boycott,  as  the  simpler  matter  of  the  two.    The 


INDUSTRIAL    WAR  267 

blacklist  is  a  list  kept  by  the  employer,  of  employees 
who  have  been  discharged  "  for  good  reason "  from 
his  establishment.  "  Good  reason  "  would  mean,  from 
the  employer's  point  of  view,  incompetence,  drunken- 
ness, profanity,  and  like  offences.  There  is  evidently 
no  valid  argument  why  industrial  establishments,  es- 
pecially large  ones,  should  not  keep  lists,  for  their  own 
convenience,  of  persons  discharged  for  reasons  which 
should  prevent  their  reemployment  in  the  same  shop 
or  factory.  The  offence  in  the  eyes  of  workingmen 
consists  in  the  circulation  of  such  lists  of  persons  dis- 
charged among  other  establishments  of  the  same  kind, 
in  order  to  prevent  the  men  named  in  it  from  obtain- 
ing employment.  But  the  common  practice  in  many 
industries  is  to  give  to  an  employee  discharged,  or  leav- 
ing of  his  own  accord,  a  written  "  character."  On  a  rail- 
way, for  instance,  when  a  man  of  experience  applies  for 
a  position,  the  question  is  at  once  asked  if  he  has  a 
recommendation  from  his  last  employer.  If  he  cannot 
present  such  a  recommendation,  his  application  is  apt 
to  be  in  vain. 

The  complaints  of  workingmen  on  this  score  are  not 
that  railways  or  other  employers  refuse  to  give  so-caUed 
"  recommendations,"  or  "  characters,"  but  that  railways 
in  particular  have  an  understanding  with  each  other 
that  the  recommendation  in  many  cases  is  to  be  taken 
as  a  recommendation  not  to  employ  the  j^erson  named. 
Trade-unionists  often  enlarge  upon  the  alleged  wide 
prevalence  of  this  practice.  They  say,  for  instance, 
that  by  the  common  use  of  paper  with  a  certain  water- 
mark it  appears  at  once  to  the  employer  that  the  recom- 
mendation is  to  be  considered  of  no  worth.  They  assert 
with  much  feeling  that  many  other  devices  are  em- 


268  INDUSTRIAL    WAR 

ployed  to  the  same  effect.  No  doubt  there  is  a  good 
deal  of  fancy  brought  into  play  by  workinginen  when 
they  discuss  this  subject.  As  Mr.  Aldace  F.  Walker, 
formerly  a  member  of  the  United  States  Interstate 
Railway  Commission,  says,  "  The  blacklist  is  largely 
an  imaginary  grievance.  If  a  servant  is  unfaithful,  it 
is  not  only  the  right,  but  the  duty  of  the  master  to 
tell  the  truth  upon  inquiry.  If  he  teUs  untruth,  he  is 
liable  to  make  fuU  compensation  at  the  common  law. 
If  he  tells  the  truth,  it  protects  faithful  employees, 
and  it  is  absolutely  in  their  interest  that  this  should 
be  done."  ^  On  the  other  hand,  the  blacklist  was  for- 
merly much  in  use  in  this  country,  as  Professor  R.  T. 
Ely  has  shown  in  his  work  on  the  "  Labor  Movement  in 
America  "  (pp.  110,  111).  Mr.  John  Graham  Brooks, 
in  his  recent  volume,  "  The  Social  Unrest,"  has  noted 
the  same  fact  (p.  35). 

There  are  now  stringent  laws  for  the  nation  and  in 
many  of  the  commonwealths  against  the  practice.  So 
far  as  law  can  reach  it,  it  seems  to  have  practically 
disappeared.  Railway  presidents  and  managers,  of 
course,  deny  the  existence  of  such  an  illegal  custom  on 
their  lines.  They  say  that  they  agree  with  Mr.  P.  M. 
Arthur  that  the  method  savors  of  persecution,  and  that 
they  have  no  right  to  pursue  an  employee  who  has  left 
them,  for  good  or  for  bad  reasons,  and  exert  themselves 
to  prevent  his  securing  employment  elsewhere.^  But 
when  the  trade-unionists  would  strictly  prevent  the 
employer  from  communicating  to  any  other  employer 
in  his  line  of  business  the  fact  that  a  man  who  has 
left  his  employ  was  active  in  a  recent  strike,  they  seem 

^  Meport  of  the  Industrial  Commission,  vol.  iv.  p.  772. 
2  Ibid.  p.  123. 


INDUSTRIAL    WAR  269 

to  occupy  untenable  ground.  Trade-unionists  claim 
that  they  have  a  complete  right  to  refuse  to  work  with 
non-unionists.  To  assert,  then,  that  an  employer  has  no 
right  to  refuse  to  employ  a  man  who  has  been  active 
in  striking  elsewhere  seems  an  instance  of  asking  rights 
and  denying  liberties.  The  mere  giving  of  information 
by  one  employer  to  another  who  seeks  it,  in  regard  to 
the  record  of  a  workman,  is  a  perfectly  proper  thing 
in  the  eyes  of  disinterested  persons.  If  the  second 
employer  is  not  at  all  desirous  of  engaging  men  who 
have  been  active  in  strike  movements,  he  certainly  has 
a  right  to  gratify  his  feelings  in  this  respect. 

It  is  very  easy  for  a  man  who  has  been  discharged 
from  a  factory  and  cannot  find  work  for  some  time 
after  to  account  for  his  failure  by  asserting  that  his 
name  is  on  a  blacklist.  The  fact,  in  many  cases,  that 
he  is  incompetent  or  immoral  would  be  to  many  per- 
sons a  much  more  satisfactory  explanation  of  his  fail- 
ure. The  analogy  between  giving  a  "  character  "  to  a 
domestic  servant  seeking  a  new  situation,  and  giving 
a  "  recommendation  "  to  a  discharged  workman  is  not 
to  be  pressed  hard,  but  a  little  consideration  woidd 
show  that  the  rights  of  the  employers  in  both  instances 
are  not  to  be  set  down  at  zero.  A  domestic  servant 
who  has  been  dismissed  for  lying,  drunkenness,  theft, 
or  general  incompetence,  has  no  right  to  complain  of  a 
former  employer  if  she  should  communicate  this  fact 
to  an  interested  person  who  wishes,  for  good  reasons,  to 
know  the  record  of  the  servant  in  question.  But  if 
a  lady  should  take  pains,  when  she  has  parted  with  a 
domestic  of  comparatively  good  character,  who  has  not 
suited  her  in  all  respects,  to  spread  abroad  among  the 
ladies  of  her  acquaintance  statements  to  the   effect 


270  INDUSTRIAL    WAR 

that  the  said  servant  is  an  utterly  undesirable  person, 
this  would  be  persecution  of  an  unwarrantable  kind. 
Blacklisting,  as  it  appears  to  the  trade-unionist,  is  such 
a  method  of  organized  persecution  on  the  part  of  an 
employer.  He  revengefully  follows  up  a  man  who  has 
left  his  employ,  and  tries  to  keep  him  out  of  work 
elsewhere,  and  thus  inflicts  on  him  hardship  and  suf- 
fering. The  employer  attempts  to  continue  a  private 
feud,  to  make  it  a  public  matter,  and  to  range  the  whole 
community  on  one  side  or  the  other  of  his  dispute. 

If  it  is  difficult  at  times  to  distinguish  between  giv- 
ing proper  and  reasonable  information  concerning  the 
competency  and  character  of  a  discharged  employee, 
and  persecution,  the  solution  seems  to  be  found  in  the 
motive  of  the  employer.  If  he  simply  desires  to  give 
needed  information,  he  is  not  at  fault.  But  if  he  keeps 
on  the  track  of  a  discharged  employee  to  prevent  hun 
from  earning  his  living  in  the  same  trade  or  any  other 
trade,  he  is  guilty  of  persecution  and  should  be  pun- 
ished for  that  offence.  It  is  natural  that  trade-union- 
ists should  denounce  persecution  of  this  kind.  The 
principle  that  no  one  has  a  right  to  keep  a  good  work- 
man out  of  work  will,  however,  bear  application  in 
many  quarters. 

Consumers'  leagues  publish  what  they  call  "  white 
lists"  in  various  cities,  of  employers  who  consult  the 
convenience  and  health  of  their  employees  in  respect 
to  the  conditions  of  labor.  The  motive  of  the  j)ersons 
who  construct  such  lists  is  not  to  take  away  custom 
from  firms  against  whom  they  cherish  hostile  feelings. 
Their  purpose  is  to  promote  the  welfare  and  comfort 
of  working  people,  and  they  take  this  semi-public 
method  to  furnish  to  persons  interested  the  names  of 


INDUSTRIAL    WAR  271 

employers  who  treat  their  workers  with  consideration. 
This  is  practically  offering  a  premium  to  employers  to 
introduce  such  conditions  and  thus  enjoy  the  benefit 
of  free  advertising.  The  absence  of  the  name  of  any 
firm  from  such  a  list  cannot  be  construed  as  an  attack 
upon  it.  The  motive  is  not  malice  toward  an  employer, 
but  concern  for  workpeople.  No  attempt,  I  believe, 
has  ever  been  made  to  bring  a  consumers'  league  un- 
der the  provisions  of  the  laws  against  blacklisting  or 
conspiracy. 

"  Boycott "  is  a  word  with  a  history.  In  September, 
1880,  Mr.  Parnell,  the  famous  Irish  agitator,  speak- 
ing at  Ennis,  advised  his  hearers  to  punish  a  man  who 
rented  a  farm  from  which  another  had  been  evicted, 
"  by  isolating  him  from  his  kind  as  if  he  was  a  leper 
of  old."  His  advice  was  taken  up  systematically,  and 
the  practice  was  widely  extended  in  the  policies  fol- 
lowed by  the  Irish  Land  League.  A  certain  Captain 
Boycott,  the  agent  of  Lord  Erne  at  Lough  Mask, 
Connemara,  Ireland,  was  a  conspicuous  subject  of  the 
treatment  advised  by  Mr.  Parnell.  He  had  refused 
to  rent  land  at  figures  fixed  by  woidd-be  tenants.  A 
policy  of  non-intercourse  was  proclaimed  against  him. 
No  one  took  his  land  ;  no  one  worked  for  him  ;  no  one 
supplied  him  goods,  or  would  assist  him  in  any  way. 
His  servants  were  forced  to  leave  him,  and  his  crops 
were  left  unharvested.  This  was  the  residt  of  the  for- 
mation of  a  sort  of  trade-union  of  tenants;  and  the 
captain,  obliged  to  do  all  the  work  of  his  house  and 
field,  and  for  a  long  time  under  police  protection,  has 
given  to  our  language  the  word  "  boycott."  ^ 

^  The  Century  Dictionary  definition  is  "  an  organized  attempt  to  co- 
erce a  person  or  party  into  compliance  with  some  demand,  by  com- 


272  INDUSTRIAL    WAR 

Boycotting  is  preeminently  a  practice  to  be  judged 
according  to  the  degree  in  which  it  occurs.  As  in  the 
case  of  the  blacklist,  questions  of  motive  are  of  the 
first  importance  to  the  judgment  to  be  passed  upon 
boycotts.  Professor  R.  T.  Ely,  in  his  "  History  of  the 
Labor  Movement  "  (p.  297),  forcibly  points  out  that 
"  the  boycott  has  been  employed  against  obnoxious 
individuals  from  time  immemorial.  In  1327  the  citi- 
zens of  Canterbury,  England,  boycotted  the  monks  of 
Christ's  church,  meeting  in  an  open  field,  and  passing 
these  resolutions  among  others  :  '  That  no  one,  under 
penalties  to  be  imposed  by  the  city,  should  inhabit  the 
prior's  houses ;  that  no  one  should  buy,  sell,  or  ex- 
change drinks  or  victuals  with  the  monastery,  under 
similar  penalties.'  The  history  of  the  United  States 
may  almost  be  said  to  open  with  a  boycott  of  English 
tea  and  other  wares,  which,  approved  and  supported 
by  our  best  and  most  patriotic  citizens,  has  been  re- 
peated several  times.  A  systematic  boycott  of  slave- 
made  products  was  begun  by  the  Abolitionists  fifty 
years  ago.  Temperance  people  have  used  the  boycott 
to  repress  the  liquor  nuisance  time  and  time  again, 
and  men  who  have  endeavored  to  draw  profit  from  the 

bining  to  abstain,  and  compel  others  to  abstain,  from  having  any  busi- 
ness or  social  relations  with  him  or  them  ;  an  organized  persecution  of 
a  person  or  company,  as  a  means  of  coercion  or  intimidation,  or  of 
retaliation  for  some  act  or  refusal  to  act  in  a  particular  way  ;  "  and  it 
quotes  :  "  Boycotting  was  not  only  used  to  punish  evicting  landlords 
and  agents,  tenants  guilty  of  paying  rent  and  tradesmen  who  ventured 
to  hold  dealings  with  those  against  whom  the  Land  League  had  pro- 
nounced its  anathema ;  but  the  League  was  now  strong  enough  to  use 
this  means  as  an  instrument  of  extending  its  organization  and  filling 
its  coffers.  Shopkeepers  who  refused  to  join  and  subscribe  received 
reason  to  believe  that  they  would  be  deprived  of  their  customers ;  re- 
calcitrant farmers  found  themselves  without  a  market  for  their  crops 
and  cattle. —  Annual  Register,  1880." 


INDUSTRIAL    WAR  273 

corruption  of  young  people,  have  beeu  driven  from 
their  homes  by  this  weapon.  Clergymen  have  employed 
the  boycott  repeatedly,  and  they  have  recently  recom- 
mended that  it  be  directed  against  the  Sunday  news- 
paper. Railways  have  entered  into  combinations,  and 
have  aided  one  another  to  boycott  innocent  members 
of  the  community  and  other  companies.  Associations 
of  business  men  have  often  boycotted  those  who  would 
not  unite  with  them  in  some  money-making  scheme." 
Commissioner  Wright,  in  his  "  Industrial  Evolution  in 
the  United  States  "  (p.  318),  writes  to  the  same  effect : 
"  The  process  is  very  old.  .  .  .  The  method  has  often 
been  considered  an  evidence  of  the  loftiest  patriotism." 

The  boycott  has  long  been  a  favorite  weapon  of  the 
striker.  In  the  great  strike  of  1899  on  the  trolley 
lines  in  Cleveland,  O.,  for  instance,  the  strikers  re- 
frained from  patronizing  the  trolley  lines  themselves, 
and  called  upon  their  friends  and  acqviaintances  and 
the  public  in  general  to  foUow  their  example.  This 
was  what  is  termed  "  a  simple  boycott."  As  it  proved 
ineffective,  they  went  on  to  what  is  known  as  "  the 
compound  boycott,"  by  refusing  to  have  any  business 
or  social  dealings  with  merchants  or  others  who  rode 
in  the  cars  while  the  strike  was  on. 

In  his  testimony  before  the  Industrial  Commission 
Mr,  Gompers  defended  the  use  of  the  boycott  in  very 
emphatic  language.^  Like  many  other  unionists,  he 
sets  aside  the  distinction  between  the  simple  and  the 
compound  boycott,  and  denies  the  right  of  the  courts 
to  interfere.  As  a  natural  result  of  this  attitude  of 
their  leaders,  the  trade-unions  have  been  altogether 
too  much  given  in  recent  years  to  the  proclaiming  of 

^  Report^  vol.  xvii.  p.  Ixri ;  see.  also.  pp.  40,  50. 


274  INDUSTRIAL    WAR 

boycotts  against  employers  with  whom  they  had  diffi- 
culties. The  American  Federation  of  Labor  has  re- 
peatedly sought  to  limit  the  practice.  It  has  always 
maintained  the  legitimacy  and  the  value  of  the  boy- 
cott, but  the  extremes  to  which  the  method  has  been 
carried  by  local  unions  have  led  to  its  imposing  several 
severe  restrictions  on  "  the  continuous  and  overwhelm- 
ing flood  of  boycott  circulars,  sent  to  local  unions  in- 
discriminately without  authority  of  the  Federation." 
The  Executive  Council  in  1899  resolved  "  That  no 
boycott  shall  be  indorsed  by  any  central  labor  union 
chartered  by  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  unless 
the  local  union  desiring  the  same  has,  before  declaring 
the  boycott,  submitted  the  matter  in  dispute  to  the 
central  body  for  investigation,  and  every  effort  at 
amicable  adjustment  has  been  exhausted."  The  regular 
procedure  is  to  refer  the  matter  to  the  president,  with 
authority  to  act.  The  president  writes  to  the  firm 
complained  of,  states  the  alleged  grievance,  mentions 
the  action  which  the  Federation  is  desired  to  take, 
and  asks  if  an  understanding  cannot  be  reached.  In 
1897  the  president  said  that  fuUy  one  third  of  the 
cases  presented  were  settled  amicably  in  this  way, 
through  the  intervention  of  the  Federation,  without 
boycotts.  It  is  only  when  he  is  convinced  that  a  firm 
will  not  make  concessions  which,  from  his  point  of 
view,  seem  fair,  that  the  boycott  is  applied. 

The  extreme  partisanship  of  the  imionist's  position 
will  sufficiently  appear  if  one  should  go  through  Mr. 
Gompers'  statement  and  simply  substitute  the  term 
"blacklist"  for  "boycott"  wherever  this  appeal's. 
One  might  then  pertinently  ask  Mr.  Gompers  if  he 
were  convinced  by  such  an  argument  in  favor  of  the 


INDUSTRIAL    WAR  275 

blacklist,  which  is  essentially  an  attempt  by  employ- 
ers to  boycott  a  workman.  The  evil  thing  in  both 
cases  is,  as  I  have  said,  the  malicious  attempt  to  ruin 
a  man's  business  or  work  by  combination  against  liim. 
Mr.  Gompers  seems  to  assert  that  it  is  one  of  the 
chief  rights  of  man  when  practised  in  the  form  of  the 
boycott,  and  one  of  the  worst  of  crimes  when  practised 
in  the  shape  of  the  blacklist. 

In  fact,  the  compound  boycott  is  an  attempt  to 
involve  the  entire  community  in  what  should  be  a 
private  dispute.^  No  one  should  question  the  right  of 
strikers  on  a  trolley  line  to  refrain  from  riding  on  the 
cars  and  to  counsel  their  friends  and  acquaintances 
to  do  the  same,  until  the  company  has  granted  the 
demands  of  the  strikers.  Boycotting  confined  to  mod- 
erate practices  of  this  sort  is  natural  and  defensible, 
and  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  law  can  be  invoked 
to  suppress  it.  But  when  the  strikers  declare  through 
their  union  that  they  will  not  buy  cigars  of  a  certain 
tobacconist  who  has  been  seen  riding  on  the  cars  after 
the  strike  was  declared,  and  call  upon  all  other  per- 
sons to  imitate  their  examjjle,  they  attempt  an  organ- 
ized persecution  of  him  because  of  an  act  entirely 
within  his  rights.  Such  persecution  society  should  not 
and  will  not  allow.  With  great  unanimity  the  courts 
of  England  and  America  have  held  that  boycotts  are 
illegal.  Some  States  have  declared  them  unla\vful  in 
set  terms.  In  numerous  cases  the  courts  have  granted 
damages  to  employers  injured  by  them,  and  have  fre- 
quently issued    injunctions    to    restrain    trade-unions 

1  The  general  principles  valid  against  such  attempts  to  usurp  the 
power  of  the  state  to  coerce  the  individual  were  admirably  expounded 
by  Sir  J.  F.  Stephen  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  for  December,  188(),  in 
an  article  on  the  "  Suppression  of  Boycotting." 


276  INDUSTRIAL    WAR 

from  carrying  them  on.  The  judges  have  held  that 
the  right  to  conduct  a  lawful  business  without  coer- 
cion is  part  of  the  fundamental  rights  of  liberty  and 
property. 

The  wisest  leaders  of  the  workingmen  are  coming 
to  see  the  substantial  likeness  of  the  boycott  and 
the  blacklist,  and  are  advising  their  fellow-workmen 
to  discontinue  the  use  of  the  boycott  as  a  weapon  of 
industrial  warfare.  Disinterested  third  parties  have 
no  difficulty  in  applying  the  same  principles  to  both 
practices,  and  condemn  them  both  as  in  violation  of 
common  equity.  Here,  as  in  so  many  other  direc- 
tions, the  mass  of  trade-unionists  are  so  occupied  with 
claiming  rights  and  privileges  and  powers  that  they 
disclaim  all  responsibility  for  the  manner  in  which  they 
exercise  these  powers,  rights,  and  privileges.  The 
trade-union  theory  with  respect  to  blacklists  and  lock- 
outs is  too  often  that  of  the  South  African  chieftain 
who  was  asked  to  define  right  and  wrong :  "  Right  is 
when  I  take  my  enemy's  cattle  ;  wrong  is  when  he 
takes  mine."  The  application  of  a  little  elementary 
logic  and  ethics  would  lead  the  trade-unionist  to  re- 
vise his  argument  and  change  his  position.^ 

^  In  addition  to  the  references  at  the  end  of  chapter  ii.,  see  volumes 
V.  and  xvi.  of  the  Report  of  the  Industrial  Commission;  parts  iv.  and  v. 
of  volume  xvii. ;  the  Sixteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner 
of  Labor ;  The  Law  of  Trade  and  Labor  Combinations^  by  F.  H.  Cooke  ; 
F.  J.  Stimson's  Handbook  to  the  Labor  Law  of  the  United  States,  and 
Trade-Union  Law  and  Cases,  by  H.  Cohen  and  G.  Howell. 


CHAPTER   IX 

SOME   EIGHTS    AND    DUTIES    OF   THE   PUBLIC 

There  is  a  third  party  to  all  disputes  between  work- 
men and  employers,  and  this  is  the  society  in  which 
they  live  and  of  which  they  form  an  integral  part. 
Strictly  speaking,  we  should  say  "  the  remainder  of 
the  entire  society."  But  this  other  part  of  society  than 
the  two  disputing  bodies  is  constantly  changing  its 
content  as  the  disputants  change.^  For  convenience' 
sake  we  may  speak  of  this  inevitable  third  party  as 
"  the  Public."  It  is  a  vast  majority,  usually  silent, 
but  always  affected  injuriously  by  even  the  peaceful 
stoppage  of  ordinary  production  of  the  comforts  of 
life.  How  much  more  it  may  be  affected  to  its  harm 
by  a  disturbance  of  the  supply  of  a  necessity  of  civil- 
ized life,  millions  of  Americans  learned  in  the  last 
months  of  the  great  coal  strike  of  1902.    Still  more 

1  One  great  body  of  people  does  not  change,  as  it  does  not  strike, 
—  the  farmers.  They  remain  steadily  the  most  considerable  part  of 
"  the  innocent  public,"  as  Mr.  J.  M.  Stahl  said  at  Chicago  in  1901 ; 
"  whether  the  number  of  employers,  the  number  of  laborers,  the  capi- 
tal used,  or  the  labor  employed  be  considered  ;  more  than  twice  as 
much  actual  capital  is  employed  in  farming  as  in  any  other  industry 
in  this  country.  .  .  .  The  gross  earnings  of  all  the  railways  of  the 
country  are  less  than  one  half  the  annual  product  of  our  farms.  The 
capital  employed  in  manufacture  is  only  one  third  of  that  employed 
in  farming,  and  the  laborers  are  an  even  less  fraction.  .  .  .  Farmers 
constitute  by  long  odds  the  most  important  class  of  the  public,  innocent 
or  otherwise,  whether  capital  or  labor,  employer  or  laborer  be  con- 
sidered. ...  In  all  our  history  there  has  not  been  a  lockout  or  a 
strike  on  the  farm."     {Industrial  Conciliation,  pp.  238,  239.) 


278    SOME  RIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  THE  PUBLIC 

sharply  are  its  happiness  and  prosperity  challenged 
when  the  strike  is  accompanied,  as  too  many  large 
strikes  are,  with  lawless  violence,  when  the  streets  are 
filled  with  an  angry  mob  bent  on  keeping  workmen  from 
obtaining  employment  in  a  factory,  or  on  preventing 
the  trolley  cars  from  performing  their  necessary  ser- 
vice in  safety.  In  no  case  of  a  considerable  strike  is 
"  the  public,"  however  we  define  it,  entirely  exempt 
from  inconvenience,  loss,  or  injury  ;  in  extreme  cases 
many  persons  are  terrorized  and  their  interests  deeply 
affected  to  their  hurt. 

The  large  body  of  non-unionist  workmen,  in  the  in- 
dustry in  which  a  strike  is  on,  who  are  in  any  way 
intimidated  and  hence  cannot  resort  freely  to  the  work 
which  they  would  like  to  do,  form  one  portion  of  this 
public,  the  portion  most  intimately  affected  by  "  the 
strike  with  violence."  The  vast  mass  of  persons  who 
are  not  workpeople,  but  business  men,  professional 
men,  teachers,  and  other  skilled  persons  on  salaries, 
and  their  families,  are  another  large  part  of  "  the 
public."  Even  the  workmen  in  all  other  lines  of  in- 
dustr}""  except  the  one  in  which  the  strike  occurs  are, 
for  the  time  being,  also  a  portion  of  this  public.  When 
the  anthi-acite  miners,  for  instance,  are  on  strike,  every 
workman  in  the  comitry  who  uses  anthracite  coal  is 
vitally  interested  in  a  speedy  adjustment  of  the  dis- 
pute as  a  member  of  ."  the  public."  No  personifica- 
tion of  "  Labor,"  no  declamation  about  ''  the  toiling 
miasses  "  avails  to  hide  the  fact  at  such  a  time  that 
coal  must  be  had  to  keep  wife  and  children  from  freez- 
ing. The  interests  of  all  other  workingmen  are  not  so 
bound  up  with  those  of  the  miners  that  the  former 
stand  on  one  side,  separated  from  the  public.    They 


SOME  RIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  THE  PUBLIC    279 

are  a  part  of  the  public,  and  while  this  public,  to 
which  employers  and  employed  are  rightly  responsible, 
varies  with  each  dispute,  it  is  always  the  largest  body. 
However  great  the  number  of  strikers  at  Pittsburg 
may  be,  in  1877  or  in  1892,  it  is  a  small  band  by  the 
side  of  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  persons  in  the  city 
whose  first  interest  is  peace  and  order  and  the  regular 
production  of  the  necessities  and  comforts  of  life. 

There  is  no  portion  of  society  which  is  selfishly  in- 
terested in  violence  and  disorder  and  the  interruption 
of  production  except  "  the  dangerous  classes,"  against 
whom  society  has  always  to  be  on  its  guard.  All  others 
are  dependent  for  their  peace  and  happiness  on  the 
smooth  and  effective  transaction  of  production  and  ex- 
change. Many  thousands  of  men  must  work  regularly 
that  society  may  eat  and  drink  and  be  clothed  and 
sheltered.  Many  other  thousands  must  be  active  early 
and  late  that  society  may  gratify  countless  other  wants 
than  those  of  mere  subsistence.  Society  pays  for  these 
services,  and  has  no  thought  of  oppressing  or  exploit- 
ing the  persons  who  render  them.  It  has  supplied  the 
conditions  of  peace  and  safety  under  which  the  pro- 
ducing classes  may  labor  to  their  own  profit  and  to 
the  profit  of  all  other  mem-bers  of  society.  It  gives 
to  the  workmen  the  aid  of  just  laws  and  equal  protec- 
tion. It  keeps  schools  open  for  their  children,  and 
provides  public  sanitation  for  their  families. 

Under  these  circumstances  the  Public  has  a  right 
to  assert  that  its  interests  are  supreme,  for  they  include 
the  general  interests  of  all  classes  and  conditions  of 
men,  and  are  antagonistic  to  none.  The  producers  (em- 
ployers and  employed)  being  guaranteed  their  funda- 
mental rights  as  citizens  by  society,  through  its  agent, 


280    SOME  RIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  THE  PUBLIC 

the  government,  it  is  their  duty  to  produce  and  satisfy 
the  incessant  wants  of  the  society  in  which  they  are 
set.  Unless  the  producers  produce,  they  have  no  claim 
to  protection  and  aid  from  the  general  body.  If  they 
wish  to  withdraw  from  production,  society  has  no  ob- 
jection, so  long  as  they  can  otherwise  support  them- 
selves. Society  has  been  buying  commodities  or  services 
from  them  of  their  own  free  will,  and  it  has  no  desire 
to  compel  them  by  force  to  continue  to  render  a  partic- 
ular service  or  to  supply  a  special  commodity. 

Negotiation  between  employers  and  unionists  for  a 
"  living  wage  "  or  a  shorter  working  day,  can  be  viewed 
with  equanimity  by  all  other  parties,  no  matter  how 
extreme  the  demands  of  either  party  at  the  beginning, 
so  long  as  both  parties  are  m  a  position  to  compete  on 
equal  terms,  neither  being  under  duress  of  any  kind, 
and  so  long  as  the  outcome  soon  to  be  expected  is  a 
bargain  of  some  sort,  not  a  fall  into  anarchy  and  vio- 
lence. Let  the  unions  get  all  they  can  get  in  the  way 
of  higher  wages  and  fewer  hours,  and  let  the  employers 
get  all  they  can  in  the  way  of  lower  wages  and  longer 
days.  The  important  points  are,  first,  that  the  two 
parties  shall  be  in  a  position  to  bargain  "competently," 
as  the  economists  would  say,  and  second,  that  they  shall 
conclude  a  bargain,  and  not  arrest  production  and  dis- 
turb the  public  peace  by  refusing  to  make  a  bargain, 
and  rejecting  all  offers  to  have  a  settlement  made  by 
others,  if  they  will  not  make  it  themselves. 

As  for  the  first  point,  the  laws  of  the  land  should 
authorize  and  legalize  to  the  fullest  extent  the  practice 
of  contracts  between  combinations  of  workmen  and 
combinations  of  employers,  or  between  a  single  em- 
ployer and  a  combination  of  workmen.    Combinations 


SOME  RIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  THE  PUBLIC    281 

being  fully  legalized  and  having  full  power  to  make 
contracts  of  aU  kinds  bearing  upon  production,  the 
public  can  then  say  to  both  parties,  "  We  have  given 
you  the  necessary  rights  and  powers  to  carry  on  the 
business  which  you  desire  to  carry  on.  You  must,  then, 
recognize  equally  the  responsibilities  and  duties  which 
go  hand  in  hand  with  your  rights  and  powers.  We 
have  put  you  in  a  position  to  bargain  freely  and  fairly. 
Therefore  you  shall  agree,  or  you  shaU  go  out  of  busi- 
ness. We  will  not  allow  virtual  anarchy  in  the  labor 
world  as  a  third  course,  which  you  are  free  to  choose 
if  you  wiU." 

The  chief  interest  of  the  public  is  in  obtaining  the 
service  or  the  commodity,  not  in  the  terms  or  condi- 
tions under  which  it  is  forthcoming.  That  these  condi- 
tions, especially  for  the  workpeople,  shoidd  be  such  as 
conduce  to  the  health  and  comfort  and  prosperity  of 
those  who  serve  it  and  produce  for  it  is  certainly  a 
matter  of  high  concern  to  it,  but  not  its  chief  concern. 
The  terms  are,  for  the  most  part,  left  by  it  to  the 
two  active  parties  to  the  labor  contract ;  they  are  for 
the  employer  and  the  employed  to  adjust  between 
themselves.  Neither  the  employer  nor  the  employed, 
then,  has  a  right  to  stand  out  for  such  extreme  terms 
that  they  will  not  be  accepted  by  the  other  party 
unless  it  is  forced  into  acceptance  of  them  by  a  public 
which  has  been  made  to  suffer  grievously  by  the  cessa- 
tion of  production  or  of  service,  and  is  therefore  clamor- 
ous for  a  settlement  of  the  dispute.  It  is  the  business 
of  the  two  bargainers  to  make  a  bargain.  Neither  has 
a  right  to  throw  an  injured  public  into  the  scales  in 
order  to  overweight  its  claims. 

That  order  and  peace  shall  be  kept  is  a  very  elemen- 


282     SOME  RIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  THE  PUBLIC 

tary  demand  of  the  public  upon  the  world  of  indus- 
try. No  plea  of  the  righteousness  of  its  cause  made 
by  either  party  to  a  labor  dispute  can  be  allowed  to 
excuse  actions  of  a  criminal  nature.  The  immediate 
putting  down  of  all  violence  and  lawlessness,  even  if 
this  should  require  the  entire  militia  of  the  State  and 
all  the  regular  troops  of  the  United  States  available,  is 
a  primary  duty  of  a  civilized  American  community,  — 
is  a  just  exercise  of  its  rights  of  seK-assertion  and  self- 
defence.  It  is  a  duty  which  it  owes  to  the  industrial 
world  as  well.  Neither  party  to  a  labor  dispute  can 
suppose  that  it  has  any  right  to  settle  the  trouble  by 
mere  force,  by  whatsoever  means  it  chooses  to  employ. 
No  course  could  be  more  hostile  to  its  own  permanence 
or  prosperity  as  an  industrial  factor.  Each  has  a  right 
to  appeal  to  the  law,  the  will  of  the  community,  but 
neither  has  a  right  to  make  law  with  fist  or  rifle.  The 
first  thing  which  the  public  owes  to  employers  and 
employed  is  the  impartial  enforcement  of  equal  laws. 
If  either  party  in  a  given  instance  believes  that  the 
law  applied  is  inequitable  and  the  application  unfair, 
its  appeal  lies,  not  to  fist-right,  but  to  the  conscience 
and  reason  of  the  community,  and  it  should  continue 
to  agitate  until  the  law  or  the  practice  is  reformed. 

In  order  to  reach  this  end  the  public  owes  it  to 
both  contending  parties  to  understand  the  case.  If 
the  facts  are  few  and  simple,  it  has  the  right  to  ask 
that  they  be  spread  informally  before  the  community, 
through  the  press  or  otherwise.  It  is  a  duty  which  it 
owes  to  both  parties  to  demand  that  fidl  statements 
be  made  for  the  guidance  of  public  opinion.  If  the 
facts  needed  are  not  few  but  many,  and  not  simple 
but  complicated,  then  the  public  owes  it  to  both  par- 


SOME  RIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  THE  PUBLIC    283 

ties  to  call  in  experts  who  shall  represent  it  in  the 
investigation  of  the  facts  and  supply  material  for  a 
wise  and  impartial  judgment.  Leaving  entirely  aside 
the  further  matter  of  enforcing  such  a  judgment,  the 
public,  in  the  absence  of  industrial  courts  entrusted 
with  hearing  such  cases,  has  a  right  to  know  the  facts 
and  to  learn  the  opinions  pronounced  on  them  by  a 
committee  of  experts.  It  owes  to  both  parties  an 
early  and  impartial  judgment  on  their  quarrel,  if  such 
can  be  had.  Whatever  the  result  may  be,  the  trouble 
and  expense  of  such  a  hearing  and  such  a  judgment 
are  a  trifling  matter  compared  with  the  cost  and 
trouble  of  an  increasing  labor  difficulty. 

Whoever  the  agent  of  inquiry  may  be,  the  Commis- 
sioner of  Labor  of  the  United  States,^  the  board  of 
arbitration  of  a  State,  a  committee  of  the  Civic  Fed- 
eration, or  any  other  presumably  intelligent  and  disin- 
terested person  or  persons,  information  of  this  kind  is 
a  right  of  the  public,  and  the  enforcement  of  this  right 
is  a  duty.  The  public  owes  it  to  both  contending  par- 
ties to  supply  them  what  they  cannot  so  easily  supply 
themselves,  —  a  method  of  ascertainment  and  state- 
ment of  the  facts  and  the  issues  involved  which  shall 
carry  with  it  a  strong  presumption  of  competence  and 
impartiality. 

Of  other  rights  and  other  duties  of  the  public  in 

^  The  United  States  Commissioner  of  Labor  was  charged  by  the 
President  with  an  investigation  of  the  anthracite  coal  strike  in  June, 
1902,  and  he  made  his  report  in  the  same  month.  By  some  mischance, 
this  report,  which  made  substantially  the  same  recommendations  as 
the  later  report  of  the  Commission,  was  not  published  until  Novem- 
ber, 1902.  Its  prompt  publication  in  June  might  have  saved  much  of 
the  strain  and  injury  of  the  next  six  months.  The  public  was  long  in 
the  dark  as  to  the  simplest  facts  of  the  situation  in  the  anthracite 
coal  mines. 


284    SOME  RIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  THE  PUBLIC 

labor  troubles  there  may  be  question,  but  its  full 
right  to  enforce  peace  and  order  thoroughly  and  re- 
lentlessly, and  its  duty  to  help  to  a  settlement  of 
disputes  by  public  investigation  and  a  public  verdict 
rendered  by  experts  can  hardly  be  doubted.  The  so- 
called  "  compulsory  investigation  "  is  favored  to-day 
in  many  quarters,  by  State  boards  of  arbitration  and 
special  commissions  which  have  dealt  with  strikes, 
in  Chicago  and  in  the  coal  mines,  and  with  revision 
of  the  labor  laws  of  Massachusetts,  for  instance.  It 
corresponds  to  the  publicity  which  is  generally  recog- 
nized as  the  first  step  to  take  in  the  regulation  of 
industrial  combinations,  or  trusts.  It  will  satisfy  the 
imperative  need  for  that  knowledge  of  the  real  situa- 
tion by  which  any  conciliating  or  arbitrating  authority 
outside  of  the  trade  must  be  guided  in  its  efforts  to 
restore  industrial  peace.  But  the  first  efforts  in  this 
direction  should  be  made  by  the  parties  themselves. 


CHAPTER   X 

CONCILIATION    IN   LABOR    DISPUTES 

In  the  daily  processes  of  every  industry  there  is  more 
or  less  occasion  for  differences  of  opinion  and  judg- 
ment and  feeling  between  the  workmen  themselves 
and  between  the  workmen  and  their  supervisors,  re- 
presenting the  employers.  Many  slight  disputes  thus 
arise,  the  majority  of  which  are  soon  settled  if  there  is 
an  average  amount  of  fairness  and  common  sense  in  both 
parties,  if  the  foreman  is  not  arbitrary,  and  if  the 
workmen  respect  his  proper  authority.  These  minor 
difficulties  in  regard  to  such  matters,  for  instance,  as 
fines,  assignment  of  work,  and  measurement  of  piece- 
work must  be  expected  to  occur  continually,  as  long 
as  human  nature  is  what  it  is.  The  first  point,  in 
order  of  time,  in  the  preservation  of  industrial  peace, 
is  the  provision  of  some  simple  means  to  prevent  these 
mushrooms  from  attaining  too  great  size  overnight. 
In  each  establishment  of  any  considerable  size  there 
should  be  a  committee  made  up  of  representatives  of 
the  workmen  and  of  the  employer,  to  which  all  minor 
disputes  should  at  once  be  referred. 

Such  shop  or  factory  or  mine  conuuittees  are  found 
quite  conunonly  in  European  countries,  especially  in 
France  and  Germany.  To  take  a  somewhat  developed 
instance,  in  the  weaving  mills  of  D.  Peters  and  Co.  at 
Neviges  and  Elberfeld,  the  five  hundred  workmen  are 
represented  in  the  Arbeiterausschuss  or  Aeltestenrath 


286      CONCILIATION  IN  LABOR  DISPUTES 

(council  of  the  workmen,  or  of  the  elders)  by  eight 
men  over  thirty  years  old  who  have  had  ten  years' 
service  in  the  works  ;  the  workmen  choose  four  of 
these  and  the  firm  names  four  ;  one  of  the  partners 
presides  over  the  council,  without  a  vote.  "  The  coun- 
cil provides  for  the  employees  in  case  of  distress  or 
misfortune  ;  oversees  the  moral  conduct  of  the  young, 
and  incites  them  to  self-education  in  their  leisure  hours  ; 
combats  rudeness  and  drimkenness ;  helps  in  the 
faithful  observance  of  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the 
factory,  and  seeks  to  prevent  carelessness  and  waste. 
It  takes  counsel  with  the  firm  in  regard  to  changes  in 
the  rules  or  the  rate  of  wages,  the  hours  of  work,  pro- 
tection against  danger  in  the  miUs,  and  improvement 
in  the  quality  and  increase  in  the  quantity  of  product." 

In  the  weaving  mill  of  F.  Brandts  at  Miinchen- 
Gladbach  a  council  with  similar  powers  endeavors  "  to 
settle  all  difficulties  before  they  become  formidable. 
...  It  warns  or  dismisses  incompetent  or  unfaithfid 
or  immoral  workers,  and  saves  much  friction  which 
might  otherwise  result."  The  council,  consisting  of  the 
president  of  the  sick  fund,  four  representatives  of 
the  firm,  and  eight  workpeople,  men  or  women,  calls 
to  its  aid,  in  making  its  decisions,  special  represen- 
tatives of  different  departments  of  the  factory.  In  the 
Max  Rosier  earthenware  manufactory  at  Schlierbach 
the  head  of  the  firm  must  approve  the  decrees  of  the 
council  of  senior  workmen  ;  he  can  modify  them  and 
refer  them  back  to  the  council,  which  consists  of  a 
central  body  and  sections  for  the  various  departments. 

In  the  H.  Freese  Venetian-blind  factory  in  Berlin, 
the  Arbeitervertretwig  is  made  up  of  four  persons 
named  by  the  fii*m  and  eleven  named  by  the  workmen 


CONCILIATION  IN  LABOR  DISPUTES      287 

(100  to  120  in  number).  Workpeople  can  attend  the 
meetings  of  this  council  as  spectators,  if  they  wish. 
Under  the  last  order  of  the  day,  "  wishes  and  griev- 
ances of  workers,"  any  employee  has  full  opportunity 
to  make  known  a  desire  or  complaint  referring  to  his 
work  or  to  the  conduct  of  the  establishment.  In  F. 
Ringhoffer's  machine  and  wagon  works  at  Smichow 
the  council  keeps  the  whole  body  of  workmen  (900 
in  number)  informed  of  its  doings  by  making  at  least 
two  reports  each  year,  which  are  distributed  at  the 
expense  of  the  firm.  Besides  supervising  the  various 
welfare-institutions  of  the  works,  the  council  cares 
for  the  apprentices,  decides  which  men  shall  be  laid 
off  when  work  is  slack,  and  has  numerous  other  func- 
tions. In  the  Marienhiitte  iron  works  near  Kot- 
zenau  the  council  consists  entirely  of  workmen  chosen 
by  the  force.^  In  the  Van  Marken  Yeast  and  Spirit 
Manufactory  at  Delft,  Holland,  and  in  the  works  of 
the  Gebriider  Stork  and  Co.,  machinists,  at  Hengelo, 
there  are  "  unions  for  promoting  the  interests  of  the 
employees  "  which  have  powers  of  conciliation. 

A  consultative  committee  is  an  important  feature  of 
the  great  Chaix  printing-house  m  Paris.  It  has  nine- 
teen members  —  the  head  of  the  house,  the  nine  offi- 
cers of  the  mutual  aid  society,  the  three  senior  heads 
of  departments  and  foremen,  and  the  six  senior  workers. 
It  meets  every  three  months  or  oftener  to  consider  all 
matters  of  internal  economy.  The  Edison  Electi-ic 
Illuminating  Company  of  New  York  in  1898  invited 
nominations  to  a  labor  council  from  the  employees 
who  had  served  a  year ;  from  this  list  the  company 

^  For  an  entry  from  its  records  showing  its  methods  of  oversight 
and  discipline  see  A  Dividend  to  Labor,  p.  112. 


288      CONCILIATION  IN  LABOR  DISPUTES 

appointed  the  members.  "  During  the  year  many  of 
the  suggestions  made  from  the  various  departments  for 
the  safety,  comfort,  or  convenience  of  the  employees 
were  found  practically  useful  and  were  adopted.  Other 
subjects  of  administration  and  labor  relations  were 
profitably  discussed." 

The  work-shops  of  the  coal  mines  of  Mariemont  and 
Bascoup  in  Belgium  have  maintained  "  explanation 
committees  "  and  "  conciliation  and  arbitration  coun- 
cils "  with  great  success  since  1876.  Each  trade  of  the 
nine  practised  in  the  shops  has  its  committee,  com- 
posed of  six  workmen  and  six  officers  or  foremen,  the 
same  officers  acting  on  several  committees.  Each  group 
sends  a  delegate  to  a  central  committee  which  deals 
with  questions  of  general  interest. 

All  such  councils  and  committees  facilitate  sugges- 
tions from  the  employees  for  the  improvement  of  the 
mechanical  processes  of  a  trade  and  for  the  better 
management  of  the  works  in  general.  A  suggestion 
system  can  be  successfully  carried  on  still  more  simply 
without  the  intervention  of  a  committee.  In  every  de- 
partment of  the  National  Cash  Register  Works  at 
Dayton,  O.,  for  example,  there  is  to  be  found  an 
autographic  register  which  receives  suggestions  in  du- 
plicate, the  employee  retaining  his  own  draft.  In  1897 
some  4,000  suggestions  were  made  by  the  employees, 
of  which  1,078  were  adopted;  in  1898,  2,500  more 
were  offered ;  the  nmnber  naturally  diminishes  as 
time  goes  on  and  the  processes  improve.  Every  six 
months  $615  in  gold  are  given  in  prizes,  ranging  in 
size  from  $5  to  $50,  to  the  fifty  members  of  the  fac- 
tory and  office  forces  who  have  made  the  best  sugges- 
tions for  improving  the  manufacture  of  registers  or 


CONCILIATION  IN  LABOR  DISPUTES      289 

the  conduct  of  the  business.  Officers  and  heads  o£ 
departments,  with  their  assistants,  are  debarred  from 
competition.  The  prizes  are  distributed  at  an  out-door 
festival  in  summer  and  at  a  celebration  in  the  opera- 
house  in  winter.  An  engineering  establishment  in 
Dayton  likewise  invites  and  rewards  suggestions  from 
the  employees ;  a  milling  machine  company  of  Cin- 
cinnati awards  $250  semiannually  in  the  same  way, 
paying  also  actual  value  for  suggestions  that  have  not 
gained  a  prize.  Similar  plans  have  been  adopted  by 
American  typewriter,  photographic  apparatus,  piano- 
forte, chemical,  and  optical  companies. 

The  good  effect  that  such  methods  of  encouraging 
suggestions  must  have  upon  the  morale  of  a  factory  is 
self-evident.  Foreign  observers  like  Mr.  Alfred  Mosely 
have  emphatically  contrasted  the  attitudes  of  Ameri- 
can and  English  employers  with  respect  to  this  matter 
of  interesting  the  workmen  in  the  improvement  of  the 
business.^  A  factory  where  it  is  easy  for  the  employees 
to  make  suggestions,  criticisms,  or  complaints,  all  of 
which  receive  consideration,  is  far  more  likely  to  have 
a  peaceful  atmosphere  than  one  in  which  no  such  out- 
lets for  expression  are  provided.  Many  misunderstand- 
ings are  corrected  at  the  very  beginning,  and  no  offence 

^  "  It  is  the  mass  of  the  workmen  that  one  must  look  to  for  sugges- 
tions and  inventions.  The  American  manufacturer  has  recognized 
that  and  encourages  the  initiative  of  the  men  and  rewards  it.  In  Eng- 
land, I  am  sorry  to  say,  I  do  not  think  our  manufacturers  have  taken 
that  broad-minded  view.  They  stand  in  the  position  of  saying  :  '  We 
know  our  business  ;  we  have  nothing  to  learn  ;  we  require  you  there 
to  do  your  work  ;  do  as  you  are  told  :  we  ask  nothing  more.'  If  any 
man  thinks  an  improvement  should  be  suggested,  he  goes  to  the  fore- 
roan.  The  foreman  says  :  '  Are  you  running  this  business,  or  am  I  ? 
Do  you  want  to  teach  me  my  work  ?  If  so,  you  had  better  put  on  your 
coat  and  go.'  "  —  Report  of  the  Industrial  Conference  of  1902,  p.  10. 


290      CONCILIATION  IN  LABOR  DISPUTES 

or  difficulty  of  any  consequence  arises  because  of  them. 
The  method  of  providing  for  this  expression  is  not  a 
matter  of  prime  importance,  as  establishments  have 
proved  that  have  had  continuous  peace.  In  the  Fair- 
banks Scale  Works  "  the  senior  Fairbanks  used  to  say 
to  the  men,  '  You  should  always  come  to  me  as  to 
a  father.'  "  In  the  American  Waltham  Watch  Com- 
pany's works  "  there  is  no  permanent  committee  of 
conciliation,  but  any  aggi'ieved  person  can  state  his 
grievance  to  the  president,  and  it  receives  immediate 
consideration.  Where  a  number  of  persons  are  con- 
cerned, they  appoint  a  committee  to  present  their  case, 
experts  are  called  in,  the  foreman  of  the  department 
is  summoned,  and  the  matter  is  settled  in  joint  confer- 
ence." Doubtless  many  establishments  have  rules  of 
which  these  just  named  are  simply  concrete  instances. 
It  is  thus  of  prime  unportance  to  "  resist  the  begin- 
nings "  of  industrial  troubles  with  comparatively  sunple 
devices  within  the  establislunent.  The  more  small  dis- 
putes are  composed  within  the  walls  of  the  factory,  the 
better  it  is  for  all  concerned.  The  peace  of  the  large 
industrial  family  is  most  effectually  conserved,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  domestic  family,  where  the  outside 
world  remains  in  ignorance  of  the  difficulty,  at  least 
until  it  is  past.  Wherever  factories  or  workshops  have 
had  the  wisdom  to  institute  some  simple  councils,  or 
coromittees,  or  suggestion  systems,  hundreds  and  thou- 
sands of  incipient  labor  disputes  are  happily  overcome 
by  means  of  them.  They  become  more  efficient  and 
more  popular  with  employer  and  employed  each  year 
of  their  operation.  The  employer  anxious  to  stock  his 
factory  with  the  best  machinery  should  not  overlook 
the  importance  of  this  machinery  for  peace. 


CONCILIATION  IN  LABOR  DISPUTES      291 

When  no  third  party  is  informed,  or  in  any  way 
aware  even,  o£  the  existence  of  a  dispute,  the  obvi- 
ously proper  term  to  apply  to  the  process  of  settle- 
ment is  "  conciliation  ; "  it  might  be  called  shop  or 
factory  conciliation.  When  the  difficulty  is  not  thus 
settled  and  a  third  party  comes  in,  we  have  another 
phenomenon  which  it  is  very  desirable  to  discriminate 
carefully,  using  terms  as  exactly  as  possible.  There  is, 
in  fact,  a  great  amount  of  laxity,  inaccuracy,  and  con- 
fusion in  the  popular  use  of  different  terms  for  methods 
of  composing  labor  disputes,  and  there  can  hardly  be 
said  to  be  more  than  the  beginnings,  as  yet,  of  a  true 
scientific  use  of  them  in  the  careful  writings  of  the 
day.  A  more  precise  use  of  the  various  words  com- 
monly applied  would  make  discussion  more  profitable 
and  lead  more  quickly  to  lasting  conclusions. 

We  have  already  discussed  "  collective  bargaining," 
—  the  term  and  the  thing.  The  right  use  of  this  one 
phrase  introduces  much  clearness  into  the  treatment  of 
ways  of  industrial  peace.  We  have  seen  that  it  happily 
indicates  the  process  that  takes  place  when  the  two 
parties  to  a  labor  contract  or  a  labor  dispute  negotiate 
with  each  other  about  important  matters  with  a  y\e\f 
to  the  future,  no  third  party  intervening  in  any  way. 
If  the  two  parties  agree,  the  result  is  a  collective  bar- 
gain by  which  their  future  relations  are  determined, 
as  the  future  relations  of  two  individuals  would  like- 
wise be  determined  when  they  have  "  struck  a  bargain," 
for  themselves  and  by  themselves.  No  third  person  is 
concerned  in  this  collective  bargaining.  It  refers  to 
the  future,  and  has  no  relation  to  the  interpretation 
of  the  terms  of  an  agreement  or  contract  which  they 
may  have  made  in  the  past.    It  is  a  new  agreement 


292      CONCILIATION  IN  LABOR  DISPUTES 

made  by  the  two  parties  themselves  for  a  determinate 
or  indeterminate  future  period. 

This  being  the  meaning  of  "  collective  bargaining," 
a  meaning  which  it  is  easy  to  perceive  and  to  retain  in 
mind,  the  term  "  arbitration  "  should  never  be  applied 
to  such  dealings  between  two  parties  to  labor  disputes. 
It  should  be  restricted  to  denote  the  precisely  opposite 
phenomenon  in  the  settlement  of  a  labor  dispute,  when 
a  third  party  is  called  in  to  do  the  settling,  and  when 
he  accomplishes  this  by  rendering  an  authoritative  and 
final  decision  on  the  right  interpretation  of  some  ex- 
isting agreement,  written  or  verbal,  between  the  two 
parties,  or  on  the  bearing  of  some  matter  of  fact  or 
alleged  fact  upon  it.  These  are  matters  of  the  past, 
decided  as  such,  not  by  the  two  parties  themselves, 
but  by  a  third  party  called  in  precisely  because  their 
bargain  was  inexactly  expressed,  or  because  they  can- 
not agree  on  the  interpretation  of  some  admitted  or 
alleged  facts,  as  regards  this  bargain. 

"  Arbitration  "  is  probably  the  most  misused  term 
in  the  vocabulary  of  industrial  peace.  It  is  often  em- 
ployed in  speaking  of  a  labor  trouble  when  no  third 
person  is  thought  of.  For  instance,  it  was  frequently 
said  in  the  summer  of  1902,  "  Why  do  not  the  strik- 
ing miners  and  the  coal  operators  arbitrate  their 
dispute?  "  when  the  meaning  was,  "  Why  do  they  not 
get  together  and  settle  the  dispute  like  reasonable 
men,  by  making  a  joint  agreement  for  the  future  ?  " 
But  this  would  have  been  purely  collective  bargaining, 
with  no  degree  of  arbitration  in  it,  as  it  had  no  re- 
ference to  the  interpretation  of  a  previous  contract  and 
brought  in  no  arbiter  or  umpire.  Others  said,  "Why 
do  not  the  strikers  and  the  operators  call  in  Bishop 


CONCILIATION  IN  LABOR  DISPUTES      293 

Potter  and  Archbishop  Ireland  to  arbitrate  the  mat- 
ter ?  "  The  meaning  here  was,  "  Why  not  call  in  these 
two  eminent  prelates  with  power  to  construct  an  agree- 
ment for  the  two  parties  which  they  will  agree  before- 
hand to  accept  ?  "  But  this  would  not  be  arbitration 
proper,  nor  would  it  be  collective  bargaining  proper, 
inasmuch  as  the  two  parties  who  should  make  the  bar- 
gain themselves  would  have  abdicated  in  favor  of  the 
two  so-called  "  arbitrators."  In  the  exact  use  of  the 
word,  it  was  true,  as  the  operators  said,  that  there  was 
"  nothing  to  arbitrate."  For  the  whole  dispute  was  not 
about  the  terms  of  an  existing  agreement,  or  a  mere 
statement  of  facts.  The  thing  imperatively  called  for 
was  the  making  of  a  bargain  for  the  immediate  future. 
Disregarding  the  technicalities  of  the  case,  both  parties 
at  last  agreed  to  the  appointment  of  a  commission  "  to 
inquire  into,  consider,  and  pass  upon  the  questions  in 
controversy  and  the  causes  out  of  which  the  contro- 
versy arose."  The  words  "  arbitration,"  "  conciliation," 
and  "  mediation  "  seem  to  have  been  carefully  avoided, 
probably  in  view  of  the  complications  of  the  situation. 
"  The  Anthracite  Strike  Commission "  had  no  other 
title.  It  should  remain  so  known,  without  mention  of 
mediation,  conciliation,  or  arbitration.  The  commis- 
sion's most  important  recommendation,  in  fact,  was  that 
provision  should  be  made,  before  the  expiration  of  its 
award  in  1906,  for  joint  agreements  or  collective  bar- 
gaining. 

When  a  third  person  offers  his  services  to  two  con- 
tending parties,  in  settling  any  dispute  between  them, 
he  is  proposing  himself  as  a  "  mediator."  If  one  or 
both  decline  his  services,  it  is  a  case  of  unsuccessful 
attempt  at  mediation.    If  they  accept  his  offer  to  do 


294       CONCILIATION  IN  LABOR  DISPUTES 

his  best  in  this  role,  but  do  not  agree  to  be  bound  by 
his  award,  it  is  proper  to  call  this  a  case  of  successful 
"  mediation."  The  attempt  of  the  accepted  mediator 
to  bring  about  a  truce  is  successful ;  the  question  of  a 
treaty  remains  to  be  settled.  The  New  York  State 
Board  of  Mediation  and  Arbitration,  for  example,  was 
empowered  by  law  to  offer  its  services  in  case  of  a 
strike.  It  published  every  year  a  list  of  cases  in  which 
the  offer  of  mediation  was  rejected,  and  consequently 
it  went  no  farther  in  the  business.  But  the  mediation 
may  be  successful.  Both  parties  may  agree  to  submit 
the  case  to  the  mediator,  but  they  may  decline  to  bind 
themselves  to  accept  the  award  when  made.  The  medi- 
ator goes  on,  therefore,  endeavoring  to  frame  a  basis  of 
settlement  that  may  be  acceptable  to  both  parties,  and 
hoping  that  they  will  accept  it,  although  they  have 
not  engaged  to  do  so.  So  long  as  the  parties  accept- 
ing mediation  have  not  bound  themselves  to  accept  the 
award,  the  mediator  is  still  only  a  "  conciliator,"  i.  e., 
one  trying  to  reconcile.  If  then,  in  fact,  when  the 
award  has  been  made  by  him,  both  sides  accept  it, 
without  a  previous  agreement  to  do  so,  this  is  an  in- 
stance of  conciliation,  not  of  arbitration.  In  case  the 
award  is  rejected  by  one  or  both  parties,  it  is  an  in- 
stance of  unsuccessful  attempt  at  conciliation.  State 
boards  of  mediation  and  arbitration  sometimes  give 
a  second  list  of  such  cases  of  failure  in  the  attempt  to 
reconcile. 

The  mediator's  offer  of  his  services,  however,  may 
produce  so  good  an  effect  upon  the  two  parties  that 
they  agree  to  accept  his  award  when  it  shall  be  made. 
In  this  case,  it  is  common  to  say  that  they  have  ac- 
cepted him  as  the  "arbitrator"  of  the  case.    It  may 


CONCILIATION  IN  LABOR  DISPUTES      295 

seem  pedantic,  but  it  is  still  well  to  insist  that  he  shall 
not  be  called  an  "  arbitrator  "  unless  there  has  been  a 
preAaous  agreement,  a  violation  of  which  is  asserted 
by  one  party  or  the  other.  Thus  in  the  last  days  of 
the  coal  strike  of  1902,  the  President  of  the  United 
States  mediated,  —  i.  e.,  he  invited  both  parties  to  a 
conference  for  the  solution  of  the  difficulty.  The  strik- 
ers suggested,  but  the  operators  at  first  declined,  the 
scheme  of  a  commission.  Later  they  modified  the  plan, 
and  the  President  appointed  the  commission.  The  par- 
ties were  so  far  reconciled,  under  the  influence  of  the 
President  and  of  public  opinion  and  of  other  forces 
possibly  more  potent  with  them,  that  they  agreed  to 
accept  the  award  of  the  commission  when  made.  The 
conmiission  appointed  by  the  President  thus  became 
virtually  the  arbitrators,  in  the  popular  sense  of  the 
term ;  but,  to  speak  by  the  card,  they  were  accepted 
conciliators,  with  full  powers. 

Conciliation  and  arbitration,  we  see,  are  terms  easily 
exchanged  in  common  usage  ;  they  are  often  associated, 
as  in  the  Enghsh  phrase,  "  boards  of  conciliation  and 
arbitration,"  without  an  effort  to  distinguish  them ; 
the  desire  to  do  so  may  seem,  in  some  cases,  vain  and 
unprofitable.  Yet  one  may  perhaps  be  allowed  to  say 
further  that  "  conciliation  "  should  refer  properly  to  a 
middle  stage  in  peacemaking  by  a  third  party,  the 
stage  between  mediation  and  arbitration,  —  collective 
bargaining  being  another  matter.  Mediation  rejected 
comes  to  nothing.  Mediation  accepted  leads  to  at- 
tempts at  conciliation,  which  may  have  the  same 
result,  if  accepted,  as  if  arbitration  in  the  broad  sense 
had  been  accepted  from  the  start.  To  submit  the 
whole  matter  to  a  third  party,  without  waiting  for 


296       CONCILIATION  IN  LABOR  DISPUTES 

mediation  or  conciliation  would  usually  be  more  cred- 
itable to  the  two  parties  concerned.  It  would  be  still 
more  a  proof  of  moderation  and  good  sense  if  they 
made  their  own  collective  bargain,  thus  dispensing  en- 
tirely with  mediation,  conciliation,  and  arbitration,  in 
all  their  forms  and  varieties.  Resort  to  outside  persons 
implies  a  deficiency  in  good  sense  and  good  feeling 
somewhere  in  the  two  parties.  Unfortunately  such  a 
deficiency  is  too  common.  The  English  government 
had  to  appear  as  a  mediator  between  the  coal  miners 
and  the  operators  in  1893,  and  President  Roosevelt 
as  a  mediator  between  the  Pennsylvania  miners  and 
operators  in  1902.  The  London  Conciliation  Commit- 
tee had  shown  them  the  way  in  the  dock  strike  of 
1889. 

In  any  form  of  attempt  at  settlement  of  labor  troubles 
it  is  a  cardinal  matter  that  work  shall  go  on  while 
the  conciliators,  arbitrators,  imipires,  commissioners  — 
whatever  they  may  be  called  —  are  reaching  a  con- 
clusion. A  stipulation  to  this  effect  is  often  found  in 
collective  agreements.  This  is  the  one  immediate  good 
result  when  the  intervention  of  a  third  party  to  a 
dispute  is  accepted.  But  such  intervention  does  not 
usually  occur  until  a  strike  has  lasted  a  considerable 
time  and  wrought  much  harm.  The  three  strikes  just 
mentioned  are  notable  instances.  However  welcome  at 
last  such  attempts  are,  when  a  suffering  public  can 
endure  no  longer,  however  preferable  to  an  insensate 
policy  of  "  fighting  it  out "  to  the  bitter  end,  such  a 
method  is  evidently  but  a  makeshift.  There  should 
be  some  better  way  of  summoning  the  two  contestants 
to  a  truce  and  then  to  a  treaty.  The  intervention  of 
the  mayor,  or  the  governor,  or  the  President,  or  of  a 


CONCILIATION  IN  LABOR  DISPUTES      297 

body  of  disinterested  citizens,  is  apt  to  be  late,  and 
often  it  is  ineffectual.  Always  it  marks  an  unsound 
condition  of  things  that  employers  and  employed  re- 
fuse to  bargain  peacefully  with  each  other,  and  wait 
for  an  uncertain  time  before  they  are  constrained  by 
public  opinion  to  listen  to  proposals  of  settlement. 
The  most  ill-advised  efforts  of  the  external  world  to 
conciliate  them  are  always  better  than  the  policy  of 
merely  "keeping  the  ring"  until  one  of  the  fighters 
gives  in  through  sheer  exhaustion,  no  reasonable  solu- 
tion of  the  dispute  having  been  arrived  at. 

Plainly,  it  is  much  to  be  desired  that  the  serious 
threat  of  a  strike  should  automatically  set  in  motion 
some  machinery  of  conciliation.  This  may  be  provided 
by  law  as  in  Massachusetts,  or  by  the  trade  as  in  Eng- 
land, or  by  a  voluntary  association  of  public-spirited 
citizens.  An  excellent  instance  of  this  last  method  has 
been  afforded  in  the  Industrial  Department  of  the  Civic 
Federation  of  the  United  States.  The  Federation  in 
December,  1900,  appointed  a  Conciliation  Committee 
of  twelve.  This  committee  acted  in  averting  a  threat- 
ened coal  strike  in  March,  1901,  and  in  settling  the 
Albany  street-car  strike  in  the  following  June,  but  it 
was  unable  to  prevent  or  settle  the  United  States  Steel 
strike  of  that  year.  The  Federation  went  on  to  form, 
in  December,  1901,  an  Industrial  Department,  with  a 
membership  of  three  hundred,  which  chose  an  executive 
conmiittee  of  thirty-six.  Twelve  distinguished  citizens, 
includmg  ex-President  Cleveland,  Mr.  Charles  Francis 
Adams,  President  Eliot,  Bishop  Potter,  Archbishop 
Ireland,  and  Mr.  Ralph  M.  Easley,  the  general  secre- 
tary of  the  Federation,  represented  the  public.  Twelve 
active  business  men,  including   Senator   Hanna,  the 


298      CONCILIATION  IN  LABOR  DISPUTES 

president  of  the  Federation,  and  Mr.  C.  M.  Schwab, 
represented  the  employers,  and  twelve  high  officials  of 
trade-unions  represented  the  wage-earners.  The  pro- 
gramme adopted  by  the  Industrial  Department  was 
mainly  on  lines  of  education  ;  it  looked  to  the  holding 
of  national  conferences  of  employers  and  labor  leaders 
and  prominent  citizens  ;  to  the  publication  of  an  in- 
dustrial journal  circulated  to  promote  conciliation,  ar- 
bitration, collective  bargaining,  "  and  a  general  spirit 
of  broadness  and  fairness  ;  "  to  the  formation  of  local 
affiliated  bodies  in  the  chief  cities  to  act  in  case  of 
local  disturbances,  and  serve  as  branches  of  the  na- 
tional body.  Two  national  conferences  have  since 
been  held,  and  their  proceedings  published.  Three  val- 
uable numbers  of  the  "  Monthly  Review  "  have  been 
printed,  and  local  federations  have  been  formed  in 
New  York,  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  Cleveland,  and  Boston. 
Ten  other  branches  are  in  process  of  formation. 

The  fourth  object  of  the  Industrial  Department  was 
to  organize  "  permanent  boards  of  conciliation,  to  use 
their  good  offices,  where  possible,  before  strikes  should 
be  declared,  and  to  endeavor  to  settle  strikes  under 
way."  The  executive  committee  was  not  intended  to 
be  a  board  of  arbitration,  and  was  not  organized  to 
this  end.  It  is  a  board  of  conciliation  and  mediation. 
The  declaration  of  principles  refers  to  arbitration  but 
once,  as  a  resort  in  case  all  efforts  at  conciliation  have 
failed  and  both  sides  of  the  dispute  may  wish  to  refer 
it  to  four  members  of  the  committee,  who  may  chose 
a  fifth  member  as  umpire.  Only  once  in  the  first  hun- 
dred conciliation  cases  did  this  happen.  The  work  of 
the  committee  is  distinctively  mediation  and  concilia- 
tion, in  a  strictly  private  way.    It  offers  its  services, 


CONCILIATION  IN  LABOR  DISPUTES      299 

brings  about  conferences,  and  averts  strikes  by  all 
kinds  of  private  conciliation.  It  considers  that  bring- 
ing about  the  formation  of  "  joint  trade  agreements  " 
is  the  most  important  and  most  lasting  work  which  it 
can  do  for  industrial  peace,  and  it  has  been  successful 
in  procuring  the  adoption  of  a  number  of  such  com- 
pacts. 

The  Industrial  Department,  in  its  attitude  toward 
trade-unionism,  represents  a  happy  mean  between  em- 
ployers' associations  which  mean  simply  to  fight  the 
unions,  declaring  that  they  wiU  have  no  relations  with 
them  but  those  of  war,  and  the  socialists  who  denounce 
trade  agreements  as  treason  to  the  cause  of  "  labor." 
It  is  very  strong  in  the  personnel  of  its  executive 
committee,  who  can  exercise  great  influence  in  shap- 
ing public  opinion ;  and  its  conciliation  committee  has 
already  rendered  notable  service  in  averting  or  ending 
strikes.  The  one  criticism  naturally  to  be  made  upon 
the  Department  is  that  it  has  not  kept  itself  suffi- 
ciently "  above  suspicion "  by  riding  out  politicians 
from  its  executive  committee.  A  bi-partisan  policy  is 
not  so  advisable  as  an  utter  avoidance  of  aU  possible 
complications  with  political  parties. 

The  Civic  Federation  is  one  of  the  most  admirable 
examples  of  the  willingness  and  the  ability  of  Ameri- 
can citizens  to  form  voluntary  associations  for  public 
purposes,  with  a  view  to  supplement  or  to  amend  the 
law.  The  Federation,  seeing  a  great  public  need  for 
healing  measures  in  the  industrial  world,  offers  all  the 
prestige  and  talent  of  its  distinguished  members  to 
the  promotion  of  conciliation.  It  affords  a  marked 
contrast  to  the  State  boards  of  arbitration  in  this  dis- 
tinction of  its  membership.    It  has  come  forward,  for 


300      CONCILIATION  IN  LABOR  DISPUTES 

one  reason,  because  these  boards  have  proved  incapable 
of  meeting  the  demands  of  the  situation.  It  has  done 
good  work  and  will  doubtless  do  much  more.  It  has 
wisely  realized,  however,  that  its  best  office  will  be  to 
render  itself  superfluous  by  promoting  collective  agree- 
ments on  a  large  scale.  Such  a  voluntary  organization 
as  this  cannot  be  relied  upon  for  an  indefinite  future 
to  do  either  what  the  employer  and  the  employed 
should  do  for  themselves,  on  one  side,  or  what  the 
public,  acting  through  the  government,  should  do,  on 
the  other.  The  civil  service  reform  associations  have 
been  fine  examples  of  these  high-class  volimtary  soci- 
eties, formed  to  educate  public  opinion,  and  to  procure 
a  reform  in  law  when  public  opinion  has  become  suffi- 
ciently instructed  concerning  the  evils  in  view  and 
the  remedies  to  be  desired.  It  may  be,  in  the  case 
of  industrial  reform  that  the  remedy  will  not  come 
through  legislation.  But  it  ought  to  be  evident  that 
no  self-respecting  society  should  be  content  to  ask 
eminent  citizens  like  the  members  of  the  Industrial 
Department  of  the  Civic  Federation  to  give  their 
time  and  their  ability  permanently  to  the  important 
social  function  of  keeping  industrial  peace  and  order. 
As  leaders  toward  a  better  view,  and  exemplars  of  a 
better  method  than  those  which  have  prevailed,  these 
public-spirited  citizens  deserve  high  praise.  But  they 
are  the  first  to  confess  that  employer  and  employed 
should  make  their  own  bargains  and  do  their  own 
work  of  conciliation.  Let  us  turn  to  what  has  been 
done  in  England  and  America  by  the  various  trades 
toward  the  solution  of  their  labor  disputes,  without 
calling  upon  any  one  outside. 


CHAPTER  XI 

TRADE   BOARDS    OF   CONCILIATION  AND   ARBITRATION 

We  have  seen  in  chapter  iv.  that  collective  agree- 
ments sometimes  contain  provisions  for  the  settlement 
of  disputes  that  may  arise,  as  well  as  arrangements 
concerning  the  rates  of' wages  and  the  hours  of  work, 
which  are  the  main  part  of  such  agreements.  These 
supplementary  provisions  may  concern  the  adjustment 
of  conflicts  over  the  proper  interpretation  of  the  terms 
of  the  agreement,  and  in  this  case  the  difficulty  is 
naturally  referred  for  decision  to  an  arbitrator  —  a 
third  party  with  full  power  to  decide  the  matter  finally. 
When  he  has  spoken,  his  interpretation  virtually  be- 
comes a  part  of  the  agreement.  In  order  to  secure 
an  expert  arbitrator,  it  is  often  required  by  the  joint 
agreement  that  he  be  chosen  from  the  trade.  In  this 
case  he  may  be  called  a  trade  arbitrator.  The  whole 
process,  being  arranged  by  the  trade  agreement,  may 
be  classed  as  trade  conciliation,  provision  being  made 
by  the  trade  itself  for  the  disposition  of  all  troubles 
that  may  arise,  without  strikes  or  lockouts,  or  any 
recourse  to  the  outside  world. 

If  the  arbitrator  is  chosen  for  any  reason  from 
without  the  trade  (in  order,  sometimes,  to  make  sure 
of  his  impartiality),  this  would  still  be  in  pursuance 
of  a  trade  provision.  It  would  be  trade  conciliation, 
just  as  shop  conciliation  would  be  such  if  worked 
through    an    arbitrator    from   without.     On   general 


302  TRADE  BOARDS  OF 

grounds  recourse  to  the  external  world  is  undesirable 
compared  with  complete  settlement  of  the  dispute 
inside  the  shop,  or  within  the  trade.  But  this  is  a 
matter  depending  in  the  latter  case  largely  upon  the 
importance  of  the  trouble  and  the  amount  of  experi- 
ence that  has  been  had  of  collective  bargaining. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  in  the  light  of  the  English 
and  American  record  of  the  last  thirty  years,  of  the 
extreme  advisability  of  incorporating  into  every  joint 
agreement  or  collective  bargain  some  provisions  in 
regard  to  the  conciliation  or  arbitration  of  any  dis- 
putes that  may  arise  during  the  life  of  the  agreement 
or  bargain.  American  joint  agreements  (to  speak  of 
them  first  for  convenience'  sake)  are  coming  to  include 
such  regulations  quite  commonly.  To  refer  back  to 
the  joint  agreements  already  given,  that  of  the  New 
York  electrical  workers  says  (p.  72)  in  the  paragraph 
beginning  Sixth :  "  All  differences  under  this  agree- 
ment are  to  be  settled  by  arbitration."  "  Fourth.  In 
the  event  of  a  dispute  a  conference  shall  be  held  by 
a  conunittee,  within  twenty-four  hours  after  notice  is 
served,  consisting  of  three  union  electrical  contractors 
employing  No.  3  men,  chosen  by  the  contractor,  and 
three  members  of  the  union,  who  shall  endeavor  to 
adjust  the  same."  The  decision  of  an  umpire  is  re- 
ferred to,  at  the  end  of  the  same  article  :  he  is  usually 
chosen  by  the  committee.  The  electrical  workers  of 
this  National  Brotherhood  have  many  such  joint  agree- 
ments as  the  one  quoted ;  and  these  often  provide  for 
such  a  conunittee.  "  The  Brotherhood  seldom  finds  it 
necessary  to  resort  to  outside  arbitrators." 

The  second  Cincinnati  agreement  (p.  76)  provides 
for  a  permanent  committee  appointed  by  the  Master 


CONCILIATION  AND  ARBITRATION        303 

Carpenters  Exchange  and  the  Carpenters  Council, 
"  consisting  of  an  equal  number  from  each,  whose 
duties  shall  be  to  mutually  adjust  all  matters  of  differ- 
ences or  violations  of  the  agreement  that  may  occur 
from  time  to  time." 

The  St.  Louis  plumbers'  agreement  (p.  78)  states 
that  "  no  general  strike  shall  be  ordered  .  .  .  without 
first  submitting  grievance  to  the  joint  conference  com- 
mittee. The  decision  of  a  majority  of  said  committee 
shall  be  binding  on  both  parties."  The  secretary  of 
the  Association  reported  in  1901  that  "  many  disputes 
come  up  before  the  conference  board,  but  that  they 
are  always  settled  peaceably.  Refusal  to  arbitrate  by 
either  party  would  not  be  tolerated,  and  refusal  to 
abide  by  decisions  of  the  arbitrators  is  rare  and  usually 
only  temporary." 

The  agreement  on  the  adjustment  of  disputes  made 
by  the  Stove  Founders  Defense  Association  and  the 
Iron  Molders  Union  has  been  very  successful  for 
thirteen  years,  in  preventing  strikes.  Before  1891  the 
two  bodies  were  on  very  bad  terms  ;  strikes  were  com- 
mon. The  agreement  provides  (p.  85)  "  that  this 
meeting  adopt  the  principle  of  arbitration,"  and  that 
a  conference  committee  of  six  be  formed,  three  from 
each  side.  Whenever  there  is  a  dispute  between  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Association  and  the  moidders  in  his  employ, 
and  they  cannot  settle  it  amicably,  it  is  to  be  referred 
to  the  presidents  of  the  two  national  bodies.  If  they 
cannot  decide  it  satisfactorily  to  themselves,  "  they 
may,  by  mutual  agreement,  summon  the  conference 
committee,  .  .  .  whose  decision  by  a  majority  vote  shall 
be  final."  "  Very  nearly  all  disputes  which  are  not 
settled   locally  are    satisfactorily  disposed  of  by  the 


304  TRADE  BOARDS   OF 

presidents  of  the  two  organizations  or  their  represen- 
tatives without  summoning  the  conference  committee. 
Only  once  since  1891  has  the  conference  committee 
been  called  upon  to  act  on  a  local  dispute."  Great 
satisfaction  is  expressed  by  the  officers  of  both  organi- 
zations with  the  working  of  the  system. 

The  same  union  has  had  for  seven  years  an  agree- 
ment of  the  same  kind  with  the  National  Founders 
Association,  which  has  a  membership  of  five  hundred 
firms  and  corporations,  with  a  capital  of  more  than 
$300,000,000  and  27,000  employees.  The  Associa- 
tion is  managed  by  a  Council  of  eighteen  members, 
meeting  quarterly,  the  usual  executive  officers,  and  a 
commissioner.  If  a  dispute  in  a  foundry  gets  beyond 
the  control  of  the  individual  founder,  he  refers  the 
case  to  the  conunissioner,  who  investigates  it  and  tries 
to  effect  a  settlement.  If  he  fails,  the  matter  goes  to 
a  committee  of  conciliation  composed  of  three  repre- 
sentatives from  each  side.  Work  goes  on  as  usual 
until  the  case  has  been  investigated  and  conciliation 
attempted.  "  Truce  once  established,  a  settlement  is 
much  more  likely  to  be  reached  when  the  principals 
have  had  an  opportunity  to  consider  cahuly  and  dis- 
passionately the  claims  of  the  other  side."  "  Although 
there  have  been  instances  when  the  terms  of  the  New 
York  Agreement  were  not  adhered  to,  they  ai-e  the 
rare  exceptions."  ^ 

^  Mr.  F.  T.  Towne,  in  the  Report  of  the  Industrial  Conference  of 
190S,  pp.  313,  322.  Mr.  J.  F.  Valentine  of  the  Union,  in  speaking  of 
the  eleven  years'  success  of  its  agreement  with  the  Defense  Associa- 
tion, —  "  not  one  strike  has  occurred  to  disturb  the  continuous  har- 
mony," —  and  of  the  "  fairly  successful  "  experience  with  the  Founders 
Association,  mentions  with  unusual  discrimination  the  "  committee  of 
conciliation,  erroneously  called  a  committee  of  arbitration  by  some." 


CONCILIATION  AND  ARBITRATION        305 

The  Interstate  Coal  Agreement  (p.  97)  is  a  case 
of  pure  collective  bargaining :  the  rules  make  no  pro- 
visions for  a  conference  committee  or  an  outside  arbi- 
trator ;  the  latter  is  equally  absent  from  the  Illinois 
agreement.  But  this  provides  for  conciliation  in  the 
case  of  local  trouble  between  the  pit  boss  and  the  work- 
men (p.  106).  The  pit  committee,  the  union's  local 
president,  and  the  pit  boss  are  empowered  to  adjust 
such  troubles.  In  the  case  of  their  disagreement,  the 
matter  is  referred  to  the  superintendent  of  the  company 
and  the  president  of  the  miners'  local  executive  board, 
where  such  exists  ;  and  "  shall  they  fail  to  adjust  it  — 
and  in  all  other  cases  —  it  shall  be  referred  to  the 
superintendent  of  the  company  and  the  miners'  pre- 
sident of  the  sub-district ;  and  should  they  fail  to  ad- 
just it,  it  shall  be  referred  in  writing  to  the  officials  of 
the  company  concerned  and  the  State  officials  of  the 
United  Mine  Workers  of  America  for  adjustment." 

The  Indiana  bituminous  field  agreement  refers  all 
disputes  to  the  board  of  arbitration,  consisting  of  two 
operators  chosen  by  the  operators  of  the  mine  and  two 
miners,  with  a  fifth  person  to  be  selected  by  the  four 
if  they  cannot  agree  ;  the  decision  of  this  board  is  final. 
In  the  block-coal  district,  the  system  is  somewhat 
simpler. 

The  Chicago  Typothet^e  agreement  (p.  90)  with 
Typographical  Union,  No.  16,  provides  that  all  differ- 
ences shall  be  submitted  to  arbitration.  Each  party 
shall  appoint  two  persons  from  its  membership  as  an 
arbitration  committee.  A  decision  of  the  majority 
shall  be  conclusive.  In  case  the  committee  divides 
equally,  it  shall  choose  an  umpire  who  shall  not  be  a 
unionist,  an  employer,  an  office-holder  or  a  candidate, 


306  TRADE  BOARDS   OF 

or  an  employee  of  the  Typothetae,  or  in  a  kindred  trade. 
This  committee  is  not  a  standing  one,  but  a  special 
body  to  be  formed  only  as  differences  may  arise. 

The  Longshoremen's  Association  and  the  Dock 
Managers'  provision  for  a  conciliation  board  has  been 
given  on  page  81,  article  7.  Mr.  Samuel  Mather,  re- 
presenting a  Cleveland  firm  of  managers,  stated  some 
three  years  after  its  adoption  that  his  business  "  had 
been  conducted  with  very  great  advantage  compared 
with  what  prevailed  before.  .  .  .  At  the  beginning  of 
each  year  delegates  from  each  local  union  meet  at  Cleve- 
land. They  have  their  own  meeting,  lasting  between 
three  and  four  days,  during  which  time  they  thresh 
out  what  they  think  they  should  have,  what  wages  and 
hours  and  terms.  Then  they  meet  the  Dock  Managers 
and  give  their  idtimatum  or  state  their  claims.  The 
Dock  Managers  confer  together  and  meet  in  company 
with  them,  during  all  which  time  the  work  continues 
without  interruption;  and  when  the  terms  are  finally 
agreed  upon,  as  they  have  been  in  each  year,  without 
serious  difficulty,  we  have  found  that  they  have  been 
lived  up  to.  And  if  any  occasion  of  dispute  arises,  it 
has  not  caused  the  work  to  terminate,  but  it  has  been 
first  settled  locally  if  possible,  and  if  occasion  neces- 
sitated, has  gone  up  to  the  chief  council.  That  has 
worked  satisfactorily  for  three  years,  and  is  a  great 
improvement."  Mr.  D.  J.  Keefe,  president  of  the  As- 
sociation, has  commended  the  joint  annual  agreement 
system,  saying,  "  We  do  not  issue  ultimatums,  nor  do 
we  encourage  the  other  fellow  to  do  so.  We  take  the 
position  that,  if  we  are  not  able  to  present  sufficient 
arguments  showing  why  our  demands  should  be  com- 
plied with,  we  are  not  entitled  to  the  changes  asked 


CONCILIATION  AND  ARBITRATION        307 

for.  We  acknowledge  the  employer  has  a  perfect  right 
to  present  such  argument  as  he  deems  in  keeping  with 
his  side  of  the  question,  showing  tliat  the  conditions 
will  not  admit  of  his  complying  with  our  demands. 
.  .  .  Employers  should  treat  with  labor  organizations 
as  a  collection  of  rational  human  beings,  who  recognize 
their  labor  as  their  capital,  and  who  desire  to  sell  the 
same  to  the  best  possible  advantage."  The  70,000 
members  of  the  Longshoremen's  organization  include 
every  man  whose  work  is  directly  or  indirectly  con- 
nected with  the  dock  or  water-front  work.  The  local 
unions  elect  delee^ates  to  the  annual  conference  with 
full  power  to  bind  the  locals.  From  the  120  delegates 
a  committee  of  five  is  selected  to  meet  with  the  em- 
ployers. In  the  light  of  the  several  days'  discussion 
among  the  Longshoremen,  the  committee  concludes  an 
agreement  which  it  simply  reports  to  the  delegates. 

In  the  agreements  cited  thus  far  the  provisions 
concerning  arbitration  or  conciliation  are  a  subsidiary 
part  of  the  collective  bargain.  It  is  a  step  in  advance 
when  an  agreement  is  made  bearing  almost  if  not  quite 
wholly  upon  arbitration  and  conciliation.  Such  is  the 
significant  document  which  follows  ;  it  is  an  admirable 
working-out  of  the  method  of  trade  conciliation  :  — 

This  Agreement,  made  and  entered  into  this  twenty- 
fifth  day  of  March,  1903,  by  and  between  the  United  Typo- 
thetae  of  America  and  the  International  Printing  Pressmen 
and  Assistants  Union,  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  be- 
tween the  employing  printers  of  the  United  States  and  their 
pressmen  and  feeders  uniform  shop  ])ractices  and  fair 
scales  of  wages,  settlement  of  all  questions  arising  between 
them,  and  the  abolition  of  strikes,  sympathetic  or  otherwise, 
lockouts,  and  boycotts, 


308  TRADE  BOARDS  OF 

Witnesseth,  That  any  question  arising  between  a  local 
Typothetae  or  affiliated  association  of  employers  and  their 
pressmen  or  feeders,  in  regard  to  wages  or  shop  practices, 
shall  be  referred  to  the  local  Conference  Committee,  made 
up  equally  of  representatives  from  the  local  Typothetae  and 
the  local  Union.  Should  this  committee  be  unable  to  agree, 
or  should  one  of  the  parties  consider  itself  aggrieved  by 
said  committee's  findings,  either  party  to  the  conference 
may  refer  the  question  at  issue  to  the  National  Conference 
Committee,  which  National  Conference  Committee  shall  act 
as  hereinafter  set  forth. 

Both  local  and  National  Conference  Committees,  in  set- 
tling questions  of  shop  practice,  shall  aim  at  the  establish- 
ment of  uniform  shop  practice  throughout  the  United  States 
and  Canada.  Unless  special  contracts  to  the  contrary  exist, 
any  finding  of  the  National  Committee  in  regard  to  shop 
practice  shall  be  binding  upon  local  organizations. 

A  ruling  upon  a  question  of  shop  practice  shall  be  made 
within  three  months  after  the  presentation  of  such  question 
to  the  Conference  Committee  of  either  side,  and  such  ruling 
when  once  established  by  said  committee  shall  not  be  recon- 
sidered within  two  years. 

Any  change  in  the  scale  of  wages  shall  be  settled  by  con- 
ference or  arbitration  within  four  months  after  the  first 
request  for  consideration,  but  shall  not  go  into  effect  until 
one  year  after  the  first  request  for  consideration ;  and  no 
scale  of  wages  shall  be  changed  oftener  than  once  in  three 
years  ;  provided,  however,  that  all  such  scales  of  wages  shall 
terminate  with  the  expiration  of  this  contract  unless  speci- 
fically agreed  to  the  contrary. 

All  present  contracts  between  the  local  Typothetae  or 
affiliated  organizations  of  employers  and  their  pressmen 
and  feeders  shall  continue  in  force  until  their  natural  expi- 
ration. 

A  contract  accepting  a  particular  scale  of  wages  does  not 
include  the  acceptance  of  any  rules  in  the  union  in  regard 
to  shop  practice  not  specially  mentioned  in  said  contract. 


CONCILIATION  AND  ARBITRATION        309 

The  International  Printing  Pressmen  and  Assistants 
Union  shall  not  engage  in  any  strike,  sympathetic  or  other- 
wise, or  boycott,  unless  the  employer  fails  to  Uve  up  to  this 
contract,  it  being  vmderstood  that  the  employer  fulfills  all 
the  terms  of  this  contract  by  paying  the  scale  of  wages  and 
living  up  to  the  shop  practices  as  settled  by  the  committee, 
regardless  of  his  employees'  union  affiliations  ;  no  employer 
shall  engage  in  any  lockout  unless  the  union  or  members 
thereof  fail  to  live  up  to  this  contract ;  the  conference  or 
arbitration  committee  to  be  the  final  judge  of  what  consti- 
tutes a  failure  to  live  up  to  this  contract. 

Pending  investigation  or  arbitration,  the  men  shall  re- 
main at  work.  The  Conference  Committee  shall  fix  the 
time  when  any  decision  shall  take  effect,  except  the  question 
of  wages,  which  is  heretofore  provided  for. 

In  the  event  of  either  party  to  the  dispute  refusing  to 
accept  and  comply  with  the  decision  of  the  National  Board 
of  Arbitration,  all  aid  and  support  to  the  firm  or  employer 
or  local  union  so  refusing  acceptance  and  compliance  shall 
be  withdrawn  by  both  parties  to  this  agreement.  The  acts 
of  such  recalcitrant  employer  or  union  shall  be  publicly  dis- 
avowed, and  the  aggrieved  pai'ty  to  this  agreement  shall 
be  furnished  by  the  other  with  an  official  document  to  that 
effect. 

In  the  event  of  a  strike  in  a  non-Typothetae  office,  if  it 
be  proven  to  the  local  Conference  Committee  that  such 
office  is  not  complying  with  the  shop  rules  and  practices 
and  scale  of  wages  in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  this 
contract,  no  assistance  shall  be  given  to  such  office  by  Typo- 
thetse  members. 

This  agreement  shall  continue  in  full  force  and  effect 
until  May  1,  1907.  It  is  expressly  agreed  that  during  the 
life  of  this  contract  fifty-four  hours  shall  constitute  a  week's 
work.  Notice  of  any  desired  changes  in  the  contract  must 
be  given  by  either  party  to  the  contract  at  least  three  months 
prior  to  the  expiration  thereof. 

Manner  of  arbitration  :  Each  party  to  this  contract  shall 


310  TRADE  BOARDS   OF 

appoint  two  of  its  members  who  shall  be  known  as  its 
members  of  the  National  Board  of  Conference  and  Arbitra- 
tion. These  members  may  be  changed  at  the  will  of  the 
respective  parties,  except  during  the  negotiation  of  any  par- 
ticular question,  during  which  time  the  membership  of  such 
board  shall  continue  the  same.  In  case  of  the  death  of  any 
member  of  such  board  during  the  consideration  of  a  ques- 
tion, the  place  of  such  deceased  member  shall  be  filled  by  his 
party,  and  the  entire  proceeding  shall  thereupon  begin  again. 
This  board  shall  meet  upon  a  request  of  the  president  or 
presiding  officer  of  either  party  at  some  point  to  be  mutually 
agreed  upon,  within  one  month  of  such  request,  and  shall 
take  such  evidence  as  it  may  consider  bears  upon  the  sub- 
ject in  hand.  A  majority  of  votes  cast  upon  any  question 
shall  be  binding  upon  both  parties  to  this  agreement.  Should 
the  vote  upon  any  question  result  in  a  tie,  tliis  board  shall 
select  a  fifth  person  to  act  as  arbitrator,  who  shall  for  this 
particular  question  act  as  a  member  of  such  board,  and  the 
decision  of  such  constituted  board  shall  be  binding  upon 
the  parties  hereto. 

The  expenses  of  the  members  of  the  Conference  Commit- 
tee shall  be  borne  by  their  respective  parties.  The  common 
expenses  of  a  conference  shall  be  equally  divided  between 
the  two  parties. 

The  American  Newspaper  Publishers  Association 
is  one  of  the  organizations  of  employers  which  follow 
the  excellent  plan  of  appointing  a  commissioner  who 
conducts  all  their  dealings  with  the  trade-unions.  Mr. 
Frederick  DriscoU  was  appointed  its  commissioner 
early  in  1900.  In  August  he  made  a  plea  at  the 
annual  convention  of  the  International  Typographical 
Union  for  a  joint  arbitration  agreement.  A  tentative 
scheme  was  drawn  up  to  hold  good  for  a  j^ear  from 
May  1,  1901  ;  it  was  endorsed  unanimously  by  the 
Association  and  adopted  by  the  Union,  by  a  referen- 


CONCILIATION  AND  ARBITRATION        311 

dum  vote  of  12,544  in  favor  and  3,530  opposed.  The 
agreement  provided  that,  in  case  any  member  of  the 
Association  should  bind  himself  to  arbitrate  differ- 
ences arising  under  his  verbal  or  written  contract  with 
the  Union,  the  International  president  would  then 
guarantee  the  complete  performance  of  the  contract, 
and  also  that  the  local  union  would  arbitrate  all  dif- 
ferences arising  under  it.  A  form  of  contract  was  pre- 
pared embodying  the  provisions  of  the  agreement  with 
the  Association.  In  the  first  trial  year  the  national 
board  of  arbitration  decided  but  one  case,  in  favor  of 
the  Union.  The  board  was  composed  of  the  president 
of  the  Union  and  the  Commissioner.  They  were  to 
choose  an  umpire  in  case  of  disagi-eement.  In  January, 
1902,  a  joint  conference  framed  a  new  agreement,  to 
run  for  five  years  from  May  1,  1902,  which  includes 
all  disputes  as  to  new  scales  of  wages  and  hours  of 
labor.  The  board  was  thus  made  a  wage  and  concilia- 
tion board.  In  1902  it  settled  seven  cases,  six  being 
new  scales,  and  a  great  many  cases  were  adjusted 
locally  under  the  arbitration  contract.  When  the 
Pressmen's  Union  concluded  a  similar  agi'eement  with 
the  Publishers  Association  for  the  same  period  all  the 
mechanical  labor  employed  in  newspaper  offices  was 
covered,  as  the  union  of  typographers  has  jurisdiction 
over  the  stereotypers,  mailers,  and  photo-engravers. 
After  the  establislunent  of  the  Association's  industrial 
bureau  there  was  not  a  strike  in  the  office  of  a  mem- 
ber to  December  10,  1902.  Mr.  Driscoll  then  said: 
"  I  can  most  cheerfully  testify  to  the  honor  and  good 
faith  which  has  characterized  the  International  govern- 
ment in  the  multiplicity  of  business  which  we  have 
transacted  with  them.  ...  I  have  always  found  both 


312  TRADE  BOARDS  OF 

the  International  presidents  ever  ready  to  cooperate 
with  me  in  adjusting  differences  and  settling  trouble 
when  it  first  arises.  .  .  .  The  facts  as  related  show 
that  any  branch  of  manufacturing  business  can  adopt 
a  similar  system  to  ours.  Its  practicability  has  been 
demonstrated  and  its  adoption  is  cordially  recom- 
mended. .  .  .  The  members  of  any  branch  of  manu- 
facturers, or  other  employers  of  organized  labor,  will 
make  no  mistake  if  they  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  the 
American  Newspaper  Publishers  Association."  ^  Con- 
siderable friction  resulted  in  the  summer  of  1903  in 
the  case  of  newspapers  in  Spokane  and  Seattle,  but  a 
new  code  of  procedure  was  adopted  and  all  difficulties 
were  composed. 

Another  impressive  instance  of  trade  conciliation 
in  the  United  States  is  the  Chicago  Board  of  Arbitra- 
tion, made  up  of  the  heads  of  seven  employers'  asso- 
ciations and  the  heads  of  seven  laborers'  organizations, 
all  connected  with  the  business  of  teaming.  Not  only 
does  this  board  settle  every  dispute  in  its  own  field  ; 
on  account  of  the  close  connection  of  the  teaming  in- 
dustry with  other  occupations,  it  has  also  been  in- 
strumental in  preventing  or  ending  strikes  in  a  variety 
of  other  fields. 

In  Great  Britain  the  system  of  trade  conciliation 
has  been  very  widely  extended,  and  its  success  has 
been  especially  remarkable  in  the  coal  and  iron  and 
steel  industries.  The  boards  bear  a  variety  of  names,  — 
"boards  of  conciliation,"  "boards  of  conciliation  and 
arbitration,"  ^  "  wages  boards,"  "  wages  and  disputes 

^  Address  of  Mr.  DriscoU  at  the  Industrial  Conference  of  1902, 
Report,  pp.  293-300. 

^  The  term  "  arbitration  "  is  frequently  misused  in  the  names  of 


CONCILIATION  AND  ARBITRATION        313 

boards  "  —  but  their  constitutions  and  their  functions 
are  very  much  alike.  The  oldest  is  the  Board  of  Con- 
ciliation and  Arbitration  for  the  Manufactured  Iron 
and  Steel  Trade  of  the  North  of  England,  dating 
from  1869.  The  Midland  Iron  and  Steel  Wages 
Board  goes  back  to  1876  ;  the  Board  of  Conciliation 
and  Arbitration  for  the  Manufactured  Steel  Trade  of 
the  West  of  Scotland  to  1890  ;  the  Board  of  Concil- 
iation for  the  Ironfounding  Industry  of  the  North- 
East  Coast  to  1894  ;  the  Scottish  Manufactured  Iron 
Trade  Conciliation  and  Arbitration  Board  to  1897  ; 
the  South  Wales  Tin  Plate  and  Steel  Mill  Workers 
Wages  and  Disputes  Board  to  1899.  Other  boards 
in  the  iron  and  steel  industries  are  the  board  of  con- 
ciliation established  between  the  owners  of  blast  fur- 
naces in  Scotland  and  the  Scottish  blast  furnace  men 
under  the  title  of  "  The  Board  of  Conciliation  for  the 
Regulation  of  Wages  in  the  Pig-iron  Trade  of  Scot- 
land,"' and  the  Board  of  Conciliation  for  the  Pattern- 
making  Industry  of  the  North-East  Coast. 

In  the  coal  industry  the  most  important  board  is 
the  Board  of  Conciliation  for  the  Coal  Trade  of  the 
Federated  Districts  (the  Midlands,  Yorkshire,  and 
Lancashire).  It  represents  a  third  of  all  the  mines  in 
the  country.  It  originated  in  the  strike  of  1893  ;  the 
formation  of  such  a  board  was  one  of  the  terms  of 
settlement,  and  general  strikes  have  been  unknown 
under  it.  Northumberland  established  a  board  in 
1894  (terminated  in  1896,  reestablished  in  1900)  ; 
Durham  in  1895  (terminated  in  1896  ;  reestablished 

these  boards,  for  the  agreements  which  provide  for  it  do  not  put  it 
into  the  hands  of  the  boards,  but  refer  it  to  some  external  authority : 
the  boards  themselves  are  conciliation  boards,  and  have  no  powers  of 
arbitration  conferred  upon  them. 


314  TRADE  BOARDS   OF 

in  1899)  ;  Scotland  in  1900,  and  South  Wales  in 
1903.  Other  industries  having  trade-boards  in  1902 
were  building,  quarrying,  engineering,  and  ship-build- 
ing, and  other  metal  trades,  the  textile  trades,  boot 
and  shoe  making,  the  furnishing  trades,  tailoring,  and 
ti'ansportation  ;  fifty-five  of  these  boards  were  reported 
to  the  Board  of  Trade  as  having  settled  cases  in  1898- 
1902. 

The  first  conciliation  board  of  much  consequence  in 
England  was  the  well-known  Board  of  Arbitration  and 
Conciliation,  in  the  hosiery  and  glove  trade  of  Not- 
tingham.^   This  was  due  to  the  efforts  of  Mr.  A.  J. 

^  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb  {Industrial  Democracy,  p.  223,  second  note) 
criticise  with  substantial  justice  the  names  given  to  these  earlier 
boards.  "  The  student  should  note  that  there  has  been,  until  quite 
recently,  no  clear  distinction  drawn  between  collective  bargaining, 
conciliation,  and  arbitration.  Much  of  what  is  called  arbitration  or 
conciliation  in  the  earlier  writings  on  the  subject  amounts  to  nothing 
more  than  organized  collective  bargaining.  Thus  the  classic  work  of 
Mr.  Henry  Crompton  describes  as  '  conciliation  '  the  typical  cases  in 
which  representative  employers  and  workmen  meet  to  bargain  on 
behalf  of  the  trade.  The  Nottingham  hosiery  board,  often  described 
as  a  model  of  arbitration,  was,  in  effect,  nothing  more  than  machinery 
for  collective  bargaining,  no  outsider  being  present,  the  casting  vote 
being  given  up,  and  the  decisions  being  arrived  at  by  what  the  men 
called '  a  long  jaw.'  In  1868  Mr.  Mundella  observed  in  a  lecture,  '  It 
is  well  to  define  what  we  mean  by  arbitration.  The  sense  in  which  we 
use  that  word  is  that  of  an  arrangement  for  open  and  friendly  bargain- 
ing ...  in  which  masters  and  men  meet  together  and  talk  over  their 
common  affairs  openly  and  freely.'  {Arbitration  as  a  Means  of  Pre- 
venting Strikes,  Bradford,  1868.)"  At  the  same  time  it  should  be  said 
that  both  Mr.  Mundella  and  Mr.  Crompton  recognized  the  fundamen- 
tal distinction  between  disputes  relative  to  the  past  and  those  relative 
to  the  future.  Mr.  Mundella  said :  "  If  we  had  only  to  discuss  quar- 
rels that  have  arisen  about  the  past  state  of  prices,  we  should  have 
almost  nothing  to  do,  because  it  is  rarely  that  there  is  any  dispute 
what  shall  be  the  rate  this  week,  but  the  dispute  is  what  shall  be  the 
rate  next  week."  To  the  same  effect  Mr.  Crompton  writes  of  the 
distinction  between  two  kinds  of  arbitration,  "  whether  the  dispute 
relates  to  past  arrangements,  as  to  what  are  the  terms  of  an  existing 


CONCILIATION  AND  ARBITRATION        315 

Mundella,  a  manufacturer  and  afterwards  member  of 
Parliament.  Mr.  Henry  Crompton's  interesting  ac- 
count in  his  little  book  on  "  Industrial  Conciliation  " 
(1876)  is  familiar,  but  it  cannot  well  be  omitted  here. 

Mr.  Mundella  must  be  regarded  as  the  inventor  of  sys- 
tematic industrial  conciliation.  The  first  board  was  started 
in  his  own  trade  of  hosiery  in  the  year  1860.  Prior  to  that 
time  the  history  of  the  relations  between  employei"s  and 
employed  in  the  trade  is  that  of  war.  If  the  worst  aspects 
of  this  war  —  the  terrible  riots,  the  murders,  arsons,  and 
machine-breakings  of  the  early  part  of  the  centmy  —  had 
disappeared,  there  was  still  hatred  and  suspicion  by  the 
operatives  towards  their  masters,  who,  in  their  turn,  enter- 
tained feehngs  of  animosity  against  the  men.  Mr.  Mundella 
admits  that,  "  In  times  of  depression  a  manufacturer  pressed 
down  the  workmen  as  low  as  he  possibly  could,  and  the  less 
conscience  he  had  of  course  the  more  he  pressed  down  the 
workmen ;  and  when  the  time  for  an  advance  came,  or 
better  trade,  although  the  natural  demand  for  labour  would 
sometimes  force  up  wages  a  little,  yet  it  was  always  resisted 
as  much  as  possible.  The  men  sent  deputations  from  Trades- 
Unions  round  to  the  hosiers'  warehouses.  At  one  warehouse 
they  woxild  be  told  to  walk  down  stairs,  the  masters  would 
not  acknowledge  Trades-Unions.  At  another  they  would  be 
told  :  '  WeU,  we  shall  wait  till  we  see  what  our  neighbours 
do.'  After  going  round  to  the  different  firms  and  being 
received  in  that  way,  the  chances  are  that  the  men  would 
go  home  and  strike,  and  it  would  depend  on  circumstances 
how  long  they  could  keep  out.  They  would,  perhaps,  ask 
for  more  than  was  the  natural  rate,  more  than  the  trade 
could  fairly  give.  It  was  simply  starving  out  the  manufac- 
turer or  the  workmen  tiU  a  compromise  was  effected." 

contract,  the  just  application  of  those  terms  to  a  new  state  of  thing's, 
or  whether  the  difficulty  is  to  aerree  upon  future  prices  or  conditions 
of  labor.''  "  A  board  of  conciliation  deals  with  matters  that  could  not 
be  arbitrated  upon."     (Industrial  Conciliation,  pp.  10,  17.) 


316  TRADE  BOARDS   OF 

In  1860  there  were  three  strikes  in  one  branch  of  the 
trade,  one  of  which  lasted  eleven  weeks.  The  manufactu- 
rers met  together  to  consider  what  they  should  do  in  their 
defence.  A  general  lockout  was  proposed,  but  this  meant 
the  turning  a  large  population  into  the  streets.  They  shrank 
from  such  a  step.  Wisely  and  nobly  they  resolved  to  try  a 
better  alternative  ;  after  some  consideration  a  handbiU  was 
issued,  inviting  a  conference  between  masters  and  men  to 
see  if  a  peaceable  issue  might  not  be  found  to  the  dispute, 
which  was  one  of  wages.  "  Three  of  vis,"  says  Mr.  Mun- 
della,  "  met  a  dozen  leaders  of  the  Trades-Unions.  We 
consulted  with  these  men,  and  told  them  that  the  present 
plan  was  a  bad  one,  that  they  took  every  advantage  of  us 
when  we  had  a  demand,  and  we  took  every  advantage  of 
them  when  trade  was  bad,  and  it  was  a  system  mutually 
predatory.  Well,  the  men  were  very  suspicious  at  first ; 
indeed,  it  is  impossible  to  describe  to  you  how  suspiciously 
we  looked  at  each  other.  Some  of  the  manufacturers  also 
deprecated  our  proceedings,  and  said  that  we  were  degrading 
them.  However,  we  had  some  ideas  of  our  own,  and  we 
went  on  with  them,  and  we  sketched  out  what  we  called  a 
'  Board  of  Ai'bitration  and  Conciliation.'  "  They  agreed  to 
refer  all  questions  in  dispute  to  the  Board ;  that  the  Board 
should  be  composed  of  an  equal  number  of  manufacturers 
and  workmen,  both  to  be  chosen  annually  by  their  respective 
bodies.  "  When  we  came  to  make  our  rules  it  was  agreed 
that  the  chairman  should  be  elected  by  the  meeting,  and 
should  have  a  vote,  a  casting  vote  when  necessary.  I  was 
chosen  the  chairman  in  the  first  instance,  and  I  have  been 
the  chairman  ever  since.  I  have  a  casting  vote,  and  twice 
that  casting  vote  has  got  us  into  trouble,  and  for  the  last 
four  years  it  has  been  resolved  that  we  would  not  vote  at 
all.  Even  when  a  workingman  was  convinced,  or  a  master 
convinced,  he  did  not  like  acting  against  his  own  order,  and 
in  some  instances  we  had  secessions  in  consequence  of  that ; 
so  we  said,  '  Do  not  let  us  vote  again  ;  let  us  try  if  we  can 
agree.'  And  we  did  agree."  Although  the  rules  of  the  Board 


CONCILIATION  AND  ARBITRATION       317 

still  give  the  chairman  a  casting  vote,  it  is  never  used.  The 
chairman  is  always  an  employer,  and  it  is  thought  unde- 
sirable that  where  there  is  an  equal  vote  the  decision  should 
be  given  by  an  employer.  The  Board  has  consequently  come 
to  the  determination  that  in  such  an  event  there  shall  be  a 
reference  to  some  arbitrator  to  be  appointed  for  the  occa- 
sion. There  would  be  no  objection  on  the  part  of  the  Board 
to  a  permanent  referee,  so  long  as  he  was  acquainted  with 
the  trade  ;  but  there  is  a  very  strong  feeling  against  a 
stranger  referee,  as  the  questions  must  depend  to  a  great 
extent  on  the  judgment  formed  of  foreign  goods,  and  the 
probable  effect  of  foreign  competition  on  tiie  trade.  The 
proceedings  of  the  Board  are  very  informal,  not  like  a 
court,  but  the  masters  and  men  sit  round  a  table,  the  men 
interspersed  with  the  masters.  Each  side  has  its  secretary. 
The  proceedings  are  without  ceremony,  and  the  matter  is 
settled  by  what  the  men  call  "  a  long  jaw,"  —  discussion  and 
explanation  of  views,  in  which  the  men  convince  the  masters 
as  often  as  the  masters  the  men.  Of  course  this  does  not 
mean  that  every  member  of  the  Board  is  always  convinced, 
though  it  seems  that  even  this  is  very  often  the  case,  but 
when  they  are  not  they  are  content  to  compromise.  They 
know  the  fatal  consequences  of  disagreement.  They  agree 
by  coming  to  the  best  arrangement  possible  under  the  cir- 
cumstances. It  is,  in  fact,  conciliation,  and  is  far  better 
than  the  decision  of  a  court  or  of  an  umpire.  "  The  long 
jaw,"  ending  in  agreement,  may  take  a  longer  time,  but  is 
the  true  practical  way  out  of  the  difficulty. 

The  Nottingham  board  was  followed  in  1864  by 
a  board  established  in  the  Wolverhampton  building 
trades,  and  in  1868  by  boards  in  the  pottery  trade,  the 
Leicester  hosiery  trade,  and  the  Nottingham  lace  trade 
(the  only  one  of  these  earlier  boards  now  surviving). 

Professor  Ashley's  words  on  "  our  characteristically  Brit- 
ish and  indirect  way  of  doing  a  thing,  without  saying  we  are 


318  TRADE  BOARDS   OF 

doing  it,"  apply  to  the  various  names  given  to  these  trade 
boards.  However  named,  they  are  organized  primarily  for 
the  conduct  of  collective  bargaining  (with  or  without  a  sliding 
scale  attachment)  ;  secondarily,  they  are  conciliating  bodies, 
with  full  power  to  settle  disputes.  Only  in  case  the  commit- 
tees or  conferences  cannot  themselves  agree,  does  the  matter 
pass  out  of  their  hands  into  those  of  an  arbitrator  chosen 
from  outside.  In  no  proper  sense  of  the  term  are  they  ar- 
bitrating bodies.  Sometimes  the  board,  called  a  "board  of 
conciliation,"  declares  in  the  heading  of  its  rules  that  it  is 
established  "  to  determine  the  rate  of  wages,"  and  in  the 
rules  themselves  that  this  is  its  "  object,"  and  does  not  men- 
tion any  functions  or  applications  of  conciliation  proper  (as 
in  the  cases  of  the  Miners  Federation,  and  the  Northum- 
berland board).  Sometimes  the  "  conciliation  board  "  makes 
a  comprehensive  statement  of  its  objects  (as  in  the  case  of 
the  Durham  board)  which  includes  conciliation  and  col- 
lective bargaining.  "  By  conciliatory  means  to  prevent  dis- 
putes and  to  put  an  end  to  any  that  may  arise,  and  with 
this  view  to  consider  and  decide  upon  all  claims  that  either 
party  may  from  time  to  time  make  for  a  change  in  county 
rates  of  wages  or  county  practices  and  upon  any  other  ques- 
tions, not  falling  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Joint  Com- 
mittee, that  it  may  be  agreed  between  the  parties  to  refer 
to  the  board."  "  All  questions  shall  in  the  first  instance  be 
submitted  to  and  considered  by  the  board  without  the  pre- 
sence of  the  umpire,  it  being  the  desire  and  intention  of  the 
parties  to  settle  by  friendly  conference,  if  possible,  any 
differences  or  difficulties  which  may  arise.  If  the  board 
cannot  agree,  then  the  meeting  shall  be  adjourned  and  the 
umpire  shall  be  summoned  to  the  adjourned  meeting,  when 
the  matter  shall  be  again  discussed,  and  in  default  of  an 
agreement  by  the  board,  the  umpire  shall  give  his  casting 
vote  on  such  matter.  The  decision  of  the  board  or  the  um- 
pire shall  be  final  and  binding  on  the  parties.  .  .  .  The  Joint 
Committee  shall  have  fuU  power  to  refer  to  arbitration,  or 
otherwise  settle  all  questions  (except  such  as  may  be  termed 


CONCILIATION  AND  ARBITRATION       319 

county  questions,  or  which  may  affect  the  general  trade) 
relating  to  wages,  compensation  for  alteration  in  practices 
for  working,  and  aU  questions  or  disputes  of  any  other  de- 
scription, which  may  arise  from  time  to  time  at  any  partic- 
ular colliery,  between  the  owner  of  such  colliery  and  his 
workmen,  and  which  shall  be  referred  to  the  consideration 
of  the  committee  by  either  of  the  parties  concerned  ;  and  the 
decision  of  the  committee  shall  be  final  and  binding  upon 
all  parties."  "  In  the  event  of  any  alteration  in  the  manner 
or  system  of  working,  in  accordance  with  county  arrange- 
ments, no  stoppage  of  work  shall  occur  pending  the  deci- 
sion, by  agreement  or  arbitration  (to  be  afterward  confirmed 
by  the  Joint  Committee),  of  any  question  as  to  readjust- 
ment of  wage,  or  other  question  arising  out  of  the  altered 
mode  of  working.  The  decisions  shall  date  from  the  com- 
mencement of  such  alteration.  ...  In  any  case  referred  to 
arbitration  each  party  shall  appoint  a  disinterested  arbitra- 
tor within  twenty-one  days  of  the  date  of  the  reference. 
...  If,  in  any  case  referred  to  arbitration,  the  arbitrators 
fail  to  agree  as  to  the  appointment  of  an  umpire,  the  Chair- 
man of  the  Joint  Committee  shall  make  the  selection  of  an 
umpire."     (Durham  Rules.) 

The  Board  of  Conciliation  for  the  coal  trade  of  Mon- 
mouthshire and  South  Wales  was  established  in  1903  "  to 
determine  the  general  rate  of  wages  to  be  paid  to  the  work- 
men and  to  deal  with  disputes  at  the  various  collieries  of 
the  owners.  .  .  .  The  parties  to  this  agreement  pledge  their 
respective  constituents  to  make  every  effort  possible  to 
avoid  difficulties  or  disputes  at  the  collieries,  and  in  case  of 
any  unavoidable  difference,  the  owners  or  their  officials,  to- 
gether with  their  workmen  or  their  agent  or  agents,  shall 
endeavor  to  settle  all  matters  at  the  collieries,  and  only  in 
case  of  failing  to  effect  a  settlement  shall  a  written  appeal 
be  made  to  the  board  by  either  or  both  of  the  parties  con- 
cerned in  the  dispute  to  consider  the  same  ;  and  no  notice 
to  terminate  contracts  shall  be  given  by  either  owners  or 
their  workmen  before  the  particular  question  in  dispute  shall 


320  TRADE  BOARDS   OF 

have  been  considered  by  the  board,  and  it  shall  have  failed 
to  arrive  at  an  agreement." 

The  objects  of  the  Scottish  Manufactured  Iron  Trade 
Conciliation  and  Arbitration  Board  are  "to  discuss,  and  if 
necessary  to  arbitrate,  on  wages  or  any  other  matters  affect- 
ing the  respective  interests  of  the  employers  or  operatives, 
and  by  conciliatory  means  to  interpose  its  influence  to  avert 
stoppages,  prevent  disputes,  and  put  an  end  to  any  that 
may  arise."  The  Board  of  Conciliation  and  Arbitration  for 
the  Manufactured  Steel  Trade  of  the  West  of  Scotland 
uses  almost  the  same  words  in  stating  its  object. 

The  usual  functions  of  these  boards  plainly  appear 
in  the  Rules  and  Instructions  of  the  Midland  Iron  and 
Steel  Wages  Board,  revised  and  adopted  in  1894 ;  I 
give  these  in  full  as  representing  the  best  practice  of 
the  boards. 

1.  The  title  of  the  board  shall  be  "  The  Midland  Iron 
and  Steel  Wages  Board." 

2.  The  objects  of  the  board  shall  be  to  discuss,  and,  if 
necessary,  to  arbitrate  on  wages  or  any  other  matters  affect- 
ing the  respective  interests  of  the  employers  or  operatives, 
and  by  conciliatory  means  to  interpose  its  influence  to  pre- 
vent disputes  and  put  an  end  to  any  that  may  arise. 

3.  The  president  shall  be  a  person  of  position  not  con- 
nected with  the  iron  trade,  chosen  by  the  board,  whose  duty 
it  shall  be  to  attend  at  special  meetings,  upon  being  re- 
quested by  the  board  to  do  so.  He  shall  take  no  part  in  the 
discussions,  beyond  asking  for  an  explanation  for  the  guid- 
ance of  his  own  judgnient,  and  if  no  settlement  can  be 
made,  he  shall  give  his  adjudication. 

4.  The  board  shall  consist  of  one  employer  and  one  oper- 
ative representative  from  each  works  joining  the  board. 
Where  two  or  more  works  belong  to  the  same  proprietors, 
each  works  may  claim  to  be  represented  on  the  board. 

5.  The  employers  shall  be  entitled  to  send  one  duly  ac- 


CONCILIATION  AND  ARBITRATION       321 

credited  representative  from  each  works  to  each  meeting  of 
the  board. 

6.  The  operatives  of  each  works  shaU  elect  a  representa- 
tive by  ballot,  at  a  meeting  to  be  held  for  the  purpose,  on 
such  day  or  days  as  the  standing  committee  may  fix,  in  the 
month  of  December  in  each  year,  the  name  of  such  repre- 
sentative, and  of  the  works  he  represents,  being  given  in  to 
the  secretaries,  on  or  before  January  1  next  ensuing. 

The  secretaries  shall,  in  the  month  of  November  in  each 
year,  issue  a  notice  to  each  works  connected  with  the  board, 
requesting  the  election  of  representatives  in  the  month  of 
December,  and  shall  supply  the  requisite  forms. 

7.  If  any  operative  representative  die,  or  resign,  or  cease 
to  be  qualified  by  terminating  his  connection  with  the  works 
he  represents,  a  successor  shall  be  chosen  within  one  month, 
in  the  same  manner  as  is  provided  in  the  case  of  annual 
elections. 

8.  The  operatives'  representatives  so  chosen  shall  con- 
tinue in  office  for  the  calendar  year  immediately  following 
their  election,  and  shall  be  eligible  for  reelection. 

9.  Each  representative  shall  be  deemed  fully  authorized 
to  act  for  the  works  which  he  represents,  and  the  decision 
of  a  majority  of  the  board  —  or  in  case  of  equality  of  votes, 
of  its  chairman  —  shall  be  binding  upon  the  employers  and 
operatives  of  all  works  connected  with  the  board. 

10.  The  chairman  shall  be  appointed  by  the  employers' 
section  from  among  their  body.  The  vice-chairman  shall  be 
appointed  by  the  operatives'  section  from  among  their  body. 
A  secretary  shall  be  appointed  by  tlie  employers,  and  a  sec- 
retary shall  be  appointed  by  the  operatives,  and  a  treasurer 
and  a  professional  auditor  shall  be  appointed  by  the  board. 
Either  of  the  secretaries,  the  treasurer,  or  the  auditor  may 
be  dismissed  by  a  resolution  of  the  respective  bodies  appoint- 
ing them,  subject  to  three  months'  notice. 

11.  The  board  shall  meet  for  the  transaction  of  business 
in  February  of  each  year  ;  but,  by  order  of  the  standing 
committee,  the  secretaries  shall  convene  a  meeting  of  the 


322  TRADE    BOARDS    OF 

board  at  any  time.  The  circular  calling  such  meeting  shall 
express,  in  general  terms,  the  nature  of  the  business  for  con- 
sideration. 

12.  At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  board  a  standing  com- 
mittee shall  be  appointed  as  follows  :  —  The  employers  shall 
nominate  12  of  their  number,  exclusive  of  the  chairman  ; 
and  the  operatives  12  of  their  number,  exclusive  of  the  vice- 
chairman. 

If  at  a  meeting  of  the  board  or  standing  committee  any 
employers'  representative,  or  any  operatives'  representative, 
be  absent,  the  employers'  secretary,  or  the  operatives'  sec- 
retary, shall  vote  for  such  absent  member  or  members  as 
the  case  may  be. 

The  standing  committee  shall  have  power  to  fiU  up  all 
vacancies  in  their  own  committee  that  may  arise  during  the 
year. 

13.  The  standing  committee  shall  meet  for  the  transac- 
tion of  business  prior  to  the  yearly  meeting,  and  in  addition 
as  often  as  business  requires.  The  time  and  place  of  meet- 
ing shall  be  arranged  by  the  secretaries  in  default  of  any 
special  direction. 

14.  The  chairman  shall  preside  over  all  meetings  of  the 
board,  and  of  the  standing  committee,  except  in  cases  that 
require  the  president.  In  the  absence  of  the  chairman,  a 
temporary  chairman  shall  be  elected  by  the  meeting. 

15.  AU  questions  requiring  investigation  shall  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  standing  committee,  or  to  the  board,  as  the 
case  may  be,  in  writing,  and  shall  be  supplemented  by 
such  verbal  evidence  or  explanation  as  they  may  think 
needful. 

An  official  form  shall  be  su})plied  to  each  representative 
on  which  complaints  can  be  entered.  Either  secretary  re- 
ceiving a  complaint  shall  be  required  to  forward  a  copy  of 
the  same  to  the  other  secretary,  and  the  complaint  shall  be 
considered  as  officially  before  the  board  from  the  date  of 
such  notice. 

16.  All  questions  shall,  in  the  first  instance,  be  referred 


CONCILIATION  AND  ARBITRATION       323 

to  the  standing  committee,  who  shall  investigate  and  have 
power  to  settle  all  matters  so  referred  to  it,  except  a  general 
rise  or  fall  of  wages,  or  the  selection  of  a  president,  which 
shall  be  referred  to  a  special  meeting  of  the  full  board.  In 
case  the  standing  committee  fails  to  agree,  the  question 
in  dispute  shall  be  submitted  to  the  full  board,  and  if  not 
decided  by  the  board,  shall  then  be  submitted  to  the  pre- 
sident ;  but  in  all  cases  witnesses  from  the  works  affected 
may  be  summoned  to  attend  and  give  evidence  before  the 
president  in  support  of  their  case. 

17.  No  case  which  the  standing  committee  is  called  upon 
to  deal  with,  or  subject  of  dispute,  shall  be  brought  forward 
at  any  meeting  unless  notice  thereof  has  been  given  to  the 
secretaries  seven  clear  days  before  such  meeting  ;  but  this 
is  not  to  apply  to  routine  business  or  to  matters  the  investi- 
gation of  which  may  be  considered  necessary  by  the  stand- 
ing committee. 

18.  All  votes  shall  be  taken  at  the  board  and  standing 
committee  by  show  of  hands,  unless  any  member  calls  for  a 
ballot. 

19.  When  the  question  is  a  general  rise  or  fall  of  wages, 
a  board  meeting  shall  be  held,  and  in  case  no  agreement 
can  be  arrived  at,  it  shall  be  referred  to  the  president,  and 
his  decision  shall  be  final  and  binding  on  all  parties. 

20.  The  expenses  incurred  by  the  board  shall  be  borne 
equally  by  the  employers  and  operatives. 

The  two  secretaries  shall  arrange  for  the  collection  of  the 
contributions  quarter  by  quarter,  on  June  30,  September 
30,  December  31,  and  March  31,  which  shall  be  forthwith 
remitted  to  the  treasurer  through  the  works'  offices,  and  it 
is  expected  that  the  employers  will  allow  their  pay  clerks 
to  assist  the  operatives'  representative  in  making  the  collec- 
tion, upon  being  furnished  with  a  list  of  those  desiring  to 
contribute. 

The  employers'  contribution  shall  be  at  the  rate  of  one 
shilling  sixpence  per  quarter  for  each  puddling,  ball,  and 
scrap  furnace,  three  shillings  for  each  mill,  heating,  and  an- 


324  TRADE  BOARDS   OF 

nealing  furnace,  and  ten  shillings  for  each  open-hearth  steel 
furnace,  or  converter,  per  quarter. 

The  operatives'  contributions  per  quarter  shall  be  —  for 
all  puddlers  (including  level  hands),  shinglers,  roUers, 
heaters,  steel  workers,  and  all  other  tonnage  men,  fourpence 
per  man.  Also  all  time  men  (including  puddlers'  under- 
hands)  receiving  tliree  shillings  and  sixpence  and  ower  per 
day,  a  contribution  of  fourpence  per  quarter ;  and  all  time 
men  receiving  under  three  shillings  and  sixpence  per  day, 
twopence  per  quarter. 

The  banking  account  of  the  board  shall  be  kept  in  the 
name  of  the  treasurer,  and  aU  accounts  shall  be  paid  by 
cheques  signed  by  him. 

21.  The  sum  of  ten  shillings  shall  be  paid  to  each  mem- 
ber of  the  board,  both  employers  and  operatives,  for  each 
day's  attendance,  and  second-class  railway  fare  both  ways. 

22.  The  operatives'  representative  shall  be  paid  for  time 
necessarily  lost  in  attending  to  difficulties  at  the  works  to 
which  he  belongs,  upon  a  certificate  signed  by  the  vice- 
chairman  and  the  operatives'  secretary,  at  the  rate  of  10s. 
for  each  shift  so  lost. 

23.  Should  it  be  proved  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  stand- 
ing committee  that  any  member  of  the  board  has  used  his 
influence  in  endeavouring  to  prevent  the  decisions  of  the 
board  or  standing  committee  from  being  carried  out,  he 
shall  forthwith  cease  to  be  a  representative,  and  shall  be 
liable  to  forfeit  any  fees  which  might  otherwise  be  due 
to  him  from  the  board. 

24.  If  the  employers  and  operatives  at  any  works  not 
connected  with  the  board  should  desire  to  join  the  same, 
such  desire  shall  be  notified  to  the  secretaries,  and  by  them 
to  the  standing  committee,  who  shall  have  power  to  admit 
them  to  membership  on  being  satisfied  that  these  rules  have 
been  or  are  about  to  be  complied  with. 

25.  No  alteration  or  addition  shall  be  made  to  these  rules 
except  at  the  meeting  of  the  board  to  be  held  in  February 
in  each  year,  and  unless  notice,  in  writing,  of  the  proposed 


CONCILIATION  AND  ARBITRATION       325 

alteration  be  given  to  the  secretaries  at  least  one  calendar 
month  before  such  meeting.  The  notice  convening  the 
annual  meeting  shall  state  fully  the  nature  of  any  alteration 
that  may  be  proposed. 

26.  The  standing  committee  shall  have  power  to  make, 
from  time  to  time,  such  by-laws  as  they  may  consider  ne- 
cessary, provided  the  same  are  not  inconsistent  with  or  at 
variance  with  these  rules. 

27.  No  suspension  of  work  shall  take  place  pending  the 
decisions  of  the  board  or  of  the  president. 

INSTRUCTIONS 

The  board  earnestly  invites  the  attention  of  all  who  be- 
long to  it  to  the  following  instructions  :  — 

1.  If  any  subscriber  to  the  board  desires  to  have  its  as- 
sistance in  redressing  any  grievance  he  must  explain  the 
matter  to  the  operatives'  representative  of  the  works  at 
which  he  is  employed.  Before  doing  so  he  must,  however, 
have  done  his  best  to  get  his  grievance  righted  by  seeing  his 
foreman,  or  the  manager,  himself. 

2.  The  operatives'  representative  must  question  the  com- 
plainant about  the  matter,  and  discourage  complaints  wliich 
do  not  appear  to  be  well  founded.  Before  taking  action  he 
must  ascertain  that  the  previous  instruction  has  been  com- 
plied with. 

3.  If  there  seem  to  be  good  grounds  for  complaint,  the 
complainant  and  the  operatives'  representative  must  take  a 
suitable  opportunity  of  laying  the  matter  before  the  fore- 
man or  works  manager,  or  head  of  the  concern  (according 
to  what  may  be  the  custom  of  the  particular  works) .  Except 
in  case  of  emergency,  these  complaints  shall  be  made  only 
upon  one  day  each  week,  the  said  day  and  time  being  fixed 
by  the  manager  of  the  works. 

4.  The  complaint  should  be  stated  in  a  way  that  implies 
an  expectation  that  it  will  be  fairly  and  fuUy  considered, 
and  that  what  is  right  will  be  done.     In  most  cases  this 


326  TRADE  BOARDS  OF 

will  lead  to  a  settlement  without  the  matter  having  to  go 
further. 

5.  If,  however,  an  agreement  cannot  be  come  to,  a  state- 
ment of  the  points  in  difference  shall  be  di'awn  out,  signed 
by  the  employers'  representative  and  the  operatives'  repre- 
sentative, and  forwarded  to  the  secretaries  of  the  board 
with  a  request  that  the  standing  committee  will  consider 
the  matter.  An  official  form,  on  which  complaints  may  be 
stated,  can  be  obtained  from  the  secretaries. 

6.  It  will  be  the  duty  of  the  standing  committee  to  meet 
for  this  purpose  as  soon  after  the  expiration  of  seven  days 
from  receipt  of  the  notice  as  can  be  arranged,  but  not  later 
than  the  first  Thursday  in  each  month. 

7.  It  is  not,  however,  always  possible  to  avoid  some  delay, 
and  the  complainant  must  not  suppose  that  he  will  neces- 
sai'ily  lose  anything  by  having  to  wait,  as  any  recommenda- 
tion of  the  standing  committee,  or  any  decision  of  the  board, 
may  be  made  to  date  back  to  the  time  of  the  comijlaint 
being  sent  in. 

8.  Above  all,  the  board  would  impress  upon  its  sub- 
scribers that  there  must  be  no  strike  or  suspension  of  ivork. 
The  main  object  of  the  board  is  to  prevent  anything  of  this 
sort ;  and,  if  any  strike  or  suspension  of  work  take  place, 
the  board  will  refuse  to  inquire  into  the  matter  in  dispute 
till  work  is  resumed,  and  the  fact  of  its  having  been  inter- 
rupted will  be  taken  into  account  in  considering  the  ques- 
tion. 

9.  It  is  recommended  that  any  changes  in  the  modes  of 
working  requiring  alterations  in  the  hours  of  labour,  or  a 
revision  of  the  scale  of  payments,  shall  be  made  matter  of 
notice,  as  far  as  possible,  and  of  arrangement  beforehand, 
so  as  to  avoid  needless  subsequent  disputes  as  to  what  ought 
to  be  paid. 

The  success  of  trade  conciliation  in  Great  Britain 
has  been  notable.  At  the  thirty-fourth  annual  meet- 
insr  of  the  Board  of  Conciliation  and  Arbitration  for 


CONCILIATION  AND  ARBITRATION       327 

the  Manufactured  Iron  and  Steel  Trade  of  the  North 
of  England,  the  standing  committee  closed  its  report 
by  saying,  "  The  employer  and  operative  members  of 
the  board  may  well  take  a  legitimate  pride  in  the 
influence  exercised  by  their  organization  in  the  direc- 
tion of  industrial  peace  and  the  avoidance  of  strikes, 
so  disastrous  to  the  general  trade  of  the  country.  It 
may  confidently  be  asserted  that  the  principles  of  con- 
ciliation and  arbitration  represented  by  this  board  are 
finding  more  general  acceptance  in  every  branch  of 
industry ;  and  your  standing  committee  feel  they  are 
therefore  warranted  in  the  belief  that  with  a  more 
extended  knowledge  of  these  principles  and  methods, 
industrial  warfare  will  speedily  cease  its  destroying 
and  retrograde  influence  upon  aU  sections  of  trade. 

"  The  principles  and  methods  "  of  this  very  effec- 
tive system  have  appeared  in  the  rules  of  the  Midland 
Board  as  just  given  above.  Equality  of  representation 
of  employer  and  employed,  the  choice  of  a  man  of 
high  standing  as  umpire  (if  one  is  chosen  at  all),  the 
complete  authority  of  these  representatives  to  bind 
their  principals,  the  employment  of  small  sub-commit- 
tees to  handle  business  in  its  early  stages,  the  exhaus- 
tion of  minor  methods  of  conciliation  before  recourse 
is  had  to  the  committee  or  the  board,  the  payment  for 
attendance,  the  consideration  and  respect  paid  to  each 
side  by  the  other  in  the  meetings  —  these  are  features 
of  no  small  importance.  But  above  all,  as  the  Midland 
Board  rightly  says,  is  the  condition  that  "  there  must 
he  no  strike  or  suspension  of  worh.  The  main  object 
of  the  board  is  to  prevent  anything  of  this  sort ;  and, 
if  any  strike  or  suspension  of  work  takes  place,  the 
board  will  refuse  to  inquire  into  the  matter  in  dispute 


328  TRADE  BOARDS 

until  work  is  resumed,  and  the  fact  of  its  having  been 
interrupted  will  be  taken  into  account  in  considering 
the  question."  The  board  knows  well  the  value  of  the 
ounce  of  prevention,  and  it  will  not  stultify  itself  by 
allowing  any  substitute.^ 

^  On  trade  conciliation  in  England  see  Dr.  von  Schulze-Gavemitz, 
Zum  Socialen  Frieden  (Leipzig,  1890),  English  translation.  Social  Peace 
(1893)  ;  the  valuable  report  of  Mr.  J.  B.  M'Pherson  in  the  Bulletin 
of  the  Department  of  Labor,  No.  28,  May,  1900  ;  J.  S.  Jeans,  Concilia- 
tion and  Arbitration  in  Labor  Disputes,  chaps,  iv.-vi.,  xii.-xiv.  (1894)  ; 
Professor  W.  J.  Ashley's  Adjustment  of  Wages,  and  the  Report  of  the 
Industrial  Commission,  vol.  xvii.  pp.  464-507.  A  great  variety  of  doc- 
uments will  be  found  in  the  last  four  authorities.  For  the  United 
States  see  the  Report  just  cited,  pp.  325-422  ;  Bulletin  No.  8  of  the 
Department  of  Labor,  January,  1897  (the  boot  and  shoe  industry)- 
The  report  on  Industrial  Conciliation  and  Arbitration,  compiled  by 
direction  of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  in  1881,  by  Carroll  D. 
Wright,  includes  Mr.  Joseph  D.  Weeks'  valuable  report  of  1878  on 
English  conditions.  Mr.  Weeks  was  long  the  foremost  authority  in 
this  country  on  arbitration  and  conciliation.  Dr.  R.  Sj)ence  Watson, 
from  ample  experience,  explained  the  working  of  the  English  Boards 
in  the  Contemporary  Review  for  May,  1890. 


CHAPTER  XII 

STATE    BOARDS    OF    CONCILIATION   AND    ARBITRATION 
IN    THE    UNITED    STATES 

The  first  State  boards  of  arbitration  in  America  were 
established  by  New  York  and  Massachusetts  in  1886. 
Other  States  legislating  in  this  direction  have  followed 
the  example  of  one  or  the  other  of  these  two.  Largely 
owing,  no  doubt,  to  unusual  permanence  of  tenure  by 
the  members  and  to  the  great  favor  which  public 
opinion  in  this  enlightened  State  has  shown  in  gen- 
eral to  intervention  by  commission,  the  Massachusetts 
board  has  made  the  best  record  among  such  bodies, 
that  of  New  York  coming  next  in  efficiency.^  What 
Massachusetts  has  accomplished  and  has  failed  to  do 
deserves  attention. 

The  Massachusetts  law  on  arbitration,  until  the  end 
of  1901,  was  chapter  263  of  the  Acts  of  1886,  ap- 
proved June  2,  entitled  "  An  Act  to  provide  for  a 
State  Board  of  Arbitration  for  the  settlement  of  dif- 
ferences between  employers  and  their  employees,"  and 
amended  in  1887  (on  the  lines  of  the  New  York 
statute),  in  1888,  1890,  and  1892 ;  the  amendments 
relate  chiefly  to  the  employment  of  expert  assistants. 
A  consolidation  and  revision  of  statutes  went  into 
effect  December  31,  1901,   and  chapter  446  of  the 

^  The  New  York  Board's  annual  reports  have  been  valuable  be- 
cause of  their  vigorous  treatment  of  strikes  on  railways  and  the  liter- 
ature on  arbitration  which  they  have  printed. 


330     STATE  BOARDS   OF  CONCILIATION  AND 

Statutes  of  1902  made  a  further  amendment.  (I 
quote  the  language  of  the  earlier  acts,  where  the  codi- 
fication has  not  changed  the  substance.) 

"  Three  competent  persons  "  are  to  serve  "  as  a  State 
Board  of  Arbitration  and  Conciliation  :  "  one  of  these  shall 
be  "an  employer,  or  selected  from  some  association  repre- 
senting employers  of  labor  ;  "  one  "  shall  be  selected  from 
some  labor  organization,  and  not  an  employer  of  labor ;  the 
third  shall  be  appointed  upon  the  recommendation  of  the 
other  two :  "  if  they  cannot  agree,  the  third  man  is  to  be 
appointed  by  the  Governor.  The  term  of  office  is  three 
years,  the  terms  being  so  arranged  that  one  member  retires 
each  year.  The  governor  appoints  to  vacancies  and  can 
remove  for  cause.  The  compensation  of  each  member  is 
$2000  a  year  ;  travelling  and  other  expenses  are  paid  by 
the  Commonwealth.  The  board  chooses  its  own  chairman 
and  appoints  a  clerk  with  a  salary  of  $1,200. 

"  Whenever  any  controversy  or  difference  not  involving 
questions  which  may  be  the  subject  of  a  suit  at  law  or  bill 
in  equity,  exists  between  an  employer,  whether  an  indi- 
vidual, copartnership,  or  corporation,  and  his  employees,  if 
at  the  time  he  employs  not  less  than  twenty-five  persons  in 
the  same  general  line  of  business  in  any  city  or  town  in  this 
Commonwealth,  the  board  shall,  upon  application  .  .  .  and 
as  soon  as  practicable  thereafter,  visit  the  locality  of  the 
dispute  and  make  careful  inquiry  into  the  cause  thereof, 
hear  all  persons  interested  therein  who  may  come  before 
them,  advise  the  respective  parties  what,  if  anything,  ought 
to  be  done  or  submitted  to  by  either  or  both  to  adjust  said 
dispute,  and  make  a  written  decision  thereof.  Tliis  decision 
shall  at  once  be  made  public  .  .  .  and  a  short  statement 
thereof  published  in  the  annual  report. 

"  Said  application  shall  be  signed  by  said  employer  or  by 
a  majority  of  his  employees  in  the  department  of  the  busi- 
ness in  which  the  controversy  or  difference  exists,  or  their 
duly  authorized  agent,  or  by  both  parties,  and  shall  contain 


ARBITRATION  IN  THE   UNITED  STATES     331 

a  concise  statement  of  the  grievances  complained  of,  and  a 
promise  to  continue  on  in  business  or  at  work  without  any 
lockout  or  strike  until  the  decision  of  said  board,  if  it  shall 
be  made  within  three  weeks  of  the  date  of  fihng  said  appli- 
cation. When  an  application  is  signed  by  an  agent  claim- 
ing to  represent  a  majority  of  such  employees,  the  board 
shall  satisfy  itself  that  such  agent  is  duly  authorized  in 
writing  to  represent  such  employees,  but  the  names  of  the 
employees  giving  such  authority  shall  be  kept  secret  by 
said  board.  As  soon  as  may  be  after  the  receipt  of  said 
application  the  secretary  of  said  board  shall  cause  .  .  . 
notice  to  be  given  of  the  time  and  place  for  the  hearing 
thereon. 

"  When  notice  has  been  given  .  .  .  each  of  the  parties  to 
the  controversy,  the  employer  on  the  one  side,  and  the 
employees  interested  on  the  other  side,  may  in  writing 
nominate,  and  the  board  shall  appoint,  one  person  to  act 
in  the  case  as  expert  assistant  to  the  board.  The  two  per- 
sons so  appointed  shall  be  skilled  in  and  conversant  with 
the  business  or  trade  concerning  which  the  dispute  has 
arisen.  It  shall  be  their  duty,  under  the  direction  of  the 
board,  to  obtain  and  report  to  the  board  information  con- 
cerning the  wages  paid  and  the  methods  and  grades  of 
work  prevailing  in  manufacturing  establishments  within 
the  Commonwealth  of  a  character  similar  to  that  in  wliich 
the  matters  in  dispute  have  arisen." 

If  the  promise  to  continue  in  business  or  at  work  is  not 
kept  by  either  petitioner,  "  the  board  shall  proceed  no 
further  thereupon  without  the  written  consent  of  the  ad- 
verse party.  .  .  .  The  board  shall  have  power  to  summon 
as  witnesses  any  operative  in  the  departments  of  business 
affected  and  any  person  who  keeps  the  records  of  wages 
earned  in  those  departments,  and  to  examine  them  under 
oath,  and  to  require  the  production  of  books  containing  the 
record  of  wages  paid.  Summonses  may  be  signed  and  oaths 
administered  by  any  member  of  the  board.  The  decision 
of  the  board  shall  be  binding  upon  the  parties  who  join  in 


332     STATE  BOARDS   OF  CONCILIATION  AND 

said  application  for  six  months,  or  until  either  party  has 
given  the  other  notice  in  writing  of  his  intention  not  to  he 
hound  hy  the  same  at  the  expiration  of  sixty  days  there- 
from. Said  notice  may  be  given  to  said  employees  by  post- 
ing the  same  in  three  conspicuous  places  in  the  shop  or 
factory  where  they  work. 

"  The  parties  to  any  controversy  or  difference  .  .  .  may 
submit  the  matters  in  dispute,  in  writing,  to  a  local  board 
of  arbitration  and  conciliation ;  such  board  may  either  be 
mutually  agreed  upon,  or  the  employer  may  designate  one 
of  the  arbitrators,  the  employees  or  their  duly  authorized 
agent  another,  and  the  two  arbitrators  so  designated  may 
choose  a  third,  who  shall  be  chairman  of  the  board.  Such 
board  shall,  in  respect  to  the  matters  referred  to  it,  have 
and  exercise  all  the  powers  which  the  State  board  might 
have  and  exercise,  and  its  decision  shall  have  whatever 
binding  effect  may  be  agreed  by  the  parties  to  the  contro- 
versy in  the  written  submission.  The  jurisdiction  of  such 
board  shall  be  exclusive  in  respect  to  the  matters  submitted 
to  it,  but  it  may  ask  and  receive  the  advice  and  assistance 
of  the  State  board. 

"  Whenever  it  is  made  to  appear  to  the  mayor  of  a  city 
or  the  board  of  selectmen  of  a  town  that  a  strike  or  lockout 
...  is  seriously  threatened  or  actually  occurs,  the  mayor  of 
such  city  or  board  of  selectmen  of  such  town  shall  at  once 
notify  the  State  board  of  the  facts.  Whenever  it  shall  come 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  State  board,  either  by  notice  from  the 
mayor  of  a  city  or  the  board  of  selectmen  of  a  town,  .  .  . 
or  otherwise,  that  a  strike  or  lockout  is  seriously  threatened 
or  has  actually  occurred  in  any  city  or  town  of  the  Com- 
monwealth, involving  an  employer  and  his  present  or  past 
employees,  if  at  the  time  he  is  employing,  or  up  to  the 
occurrence  of  the  strike  or  lockout  was  employing,  not  less 
than  twenty-five  persons  in  the  same  general  line  of  busi- 
ness in  any  city  or  town  in  the  Commonwealth,  it  shall  be 
the  duty  of  the  State  board  to  put  itself  in  communication 
as  soon  as  may  be  with  such  employer  and  employees,  and 


ARBITRATION  IN  THE   UNITED  STATES     333 

endeavor  by  mediation  to  effect  an  amicable  settlement 
between  them,  or  to  endeavor  to  persuade  them,  provided 
that  a  strike  or  lockout  has  not  actually  occurred  or  is  not 
then  continuing,  to  submit  the  matters  in  dispute  to  a  local 
board  of  arbitration  and  conciliation,  as  above  provided,  or 
to  the  State  board  ;  and  said  State  board  shaU  investigate 
the  cause  or  causes  of  such  controversy,  and  ascertain  which 
party  thereto  is  mainly  responsible  or  blameworthy  for  the 
existence  or  continuance  of  the  same,  and  may  make  and 
publish  a  report  finding  such  cause  or  causes,  and  assign- 
ing such  responsibility  or  blame."  ^ 

Through  the  simple  phraseology  of  this  Massachu- 
setts statute  the  intention  of  the  law-makers  plainly 
appears.  The  familiar  features  of  voluntary  arbitration 
and  conciliation  boards  stand  forth.  One  member  of 
the  Board  represents  "  labor,"  a  second  "  capital,"  and 
a  third  "  the  public."  If  the  Board  hears  of  trouble 
anywhere  in  the  industries  of  the  Commonwealth  be- 
tween employers  and  employees,  it  does  not  wait  for 
either  party  to  apply  for  its  good  offices,  but  comes 
into  immediate  communication  with  the  parties  of  its 
own  accord,  and  offers  its  services  or  suggests  a  volun- 
tary board  of  conciHation.  On  the  other  hand,  in  case 
either  party  (or  both  parties)  anticipates  the  action 
of  the  Board  by  an  application  for  its  intervention, 
the  Board  is  ready  to  comply,  as  a  conciliating  body. 
Its  decision  is  binding  upon  the  two  parties  only  in 
case  both  have  joined  in  the  application,  and  it  wiU  be 
observed  that  there  is  no  penalty  clause  providing  for 
a  failure,  by  either  party,  to  carry  out  the  decision. 

^  In  the  Revised  Laws  of  1901,  "  conciliation  "  comes  fii'st  (not  last, 
as  in  the  original  act)  under  "  duties  and  powers."  This  is  a  natural 
result  of  the  experience  under  the  act,  which  has  shown  that  concilia- 
tion is  a  much  more  important  function  for  the  Board  than  arbitration. 


334     STATE  BOARDS   OF  CONCILIATION  AND 

The  Board  may  arbitrate  only  when  both  parties  so 
apply ;  it  is  directed  to  mediate  by  proffering  its 
services ;  and  it  must,  in  the  interests  of  the  public, 
investigate  if  its  mediation  is  declined ;  but  it  has  no 
power  to  enforce  its  decision  upon  either  party  if  un- 
willing. It  is  not  strange,  then,  that  the  reports  of  its 
activity  show  a  large  preponderance  of  conciliations 
over  arbitrations.  The  provisions  for  local  boards  are 
good,  but  they  are  not  often  availed  of.  The  provision 
for  expert  assistants,  chosen  by  the  parties  or  by  the 
Board,  is  one  of  the  best  features  of  the  law,  and 
commends  itself  at  once.  A  decision  worthy  to  com- 
mand respect  could  hardly  be  expected,  in  an  industry 
with  numerous  complicated  processes  and  very  many 
products,  from  a  board  not  so  assisted.^ 

Massachusetts  thus  goes  so  far  as  to  establish  a  per- 
manent board  of  disinterested  persons,  always  ready 
to  conciliate  or  arbitrate,  and  empowered  to  investi- 
gate in  any  event,  and  to  publish  its  impartial  opinion 
to  the  world.  The  successive  governors  of  the  State 
have  had  the  good  sense  to  continue  the  various  mem- 
bers in  office  for  years.  Neither  party  to  a  dispute 
can  force  the  other  to  appear  before  the  Board  and 
to  abide  by  its  decision ;  neither  public  opinion  nor  the 
government  of  the  State  coerces  one  or  another  unwil- 
ling party,  or  both  pai'ties,  any  further  than  to  subject 
them  to  an  investigation  which  the  Board  has  large 

1  An  Illinois  coal  commissioner  thus  speaks  of  the  system  :  "  Unless 
under  State  arbitration  the  decrees  of  the  board  can  be  enforced,  they 
are  practically  of  no  value.  They  are  not  respected  as  arbitration  is 
respected  where  it  has  been  rendered  by  individuals  who  are  unoffi- 
cial, who  do  not  act  in  any  official  capacity,  but  who  understand  the 
industry  involved  and  its  conditions.  Take,  for  example,  the  State  of 
Illinois.  During  the  past  year  (1900)  there  has  not  been  a  single  case 
referred  to  the  State  Board  of  Arbitration." 


ARBITRATION  IN  THE   UNITED  STATES     335 

powers  to  make.  When  the  Board  investigates  on  its 
own  initiative,  public  opinion  is  the  only  force  it  can 
invoke  to  carry  out  its  decision ;  and  public  opinion 
will  be  more  or  less  effective  in  proportion  to  the  sim- 
l^licity  of  the  issue. 

The  Board  has  published  an  annual  report,  as  by 
law  required,  but  a  good-natured  critic  might  suggest 
that  these  reports  are  easily  capable  of  improvement. 
Each  has  contained  some  eighty  or  ninety  pages  repro- 
ducing the  laws  on  arbitration  of  the  United  States 
and  of  the  various  Commonwealths  which  have  taken 
any  action  on  the  subject,  with  a  page  or  two  of  pre- 
face. Notices  of  cases  coming  under  the  survey  of 
the  Board  occupy  the  bulk  of  each  volume  :  these  no- 
tices vary  in  length  from  one  page  or  less  to  twenty  or 
thirty  pages  in  some  exceptional  instances ;  three  or 
four  pages  of  preface  introduce  them.  Not  until  1900 
did  the  Board  furnish  any  tabulation  or  classification 
of  these  cases,  and  even  the  later  reports  leave  much 
to  be  desired  in  this  direction.  On  important  points, 
such  as  the  proportion  which  the  number  of  cases  of 
strikes  or  difficulties  referred  to  the  Board  or  decided 
by  it  bears  to  the  whole  number  of  strikes  occurring 
in  the  State  in  the  year,  the  reader  gets  no  assistance. 
There  is  no  summary,  in  the  report  for  1902,  for 
instance,  of  the  193  cases  named  in  the  table  of  con- 
tents, to  show  how  many  were  individually  acted  upon, 
how  many  were  combined  cases  (of  brewers,  shoe  man- 
ufacturers, or  textile  companies  in  the  same  city,  say), 
or  how  many  notices  simply  give  interpretations  by 
the  Board  of  jomt  agreements  which  provide  that  all 
disputes  happening  under  them  shall  be  referred  to 
the  State  Board  for  decision.    The  volumes  are  thus 


336     STATE  BOARDS   OF  CONCILIATION  AND 

scarcely  more  than  raw  material  for  the  student  of 
labor  matters,  and  he  must  do  his  own  classif3ang  and 
summarizing.  Selected  matter  on  various  phases  of 
arbitration  might  profitably  supplant  the  regular  re- 
print of  the  same  State  laws  year  after  year. 

Dr.  Durand,  in  volume  xvii.  of  the  "  Report  of  the 
United  States  Industrial  Commission"  (p.  443),  has 
given  this  summary  of  the  work  of  the  Massachusetts 
Board  from  1894  to  1900  inclusive:  i  — 


1894.. 
1895.. 
1896.. 
1897.. 
1898.. 
1899.. 
1900.. 

Total . 


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32 

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<!-i3 

3   » 

37 

10 

8 

19 

11 

7 

19 

32 

10 

10 

12 

11 

6 

15 

3 

30 

12 

6 

12 

12 

4 

14 

1 

36 

14 

7 

15 

14 

8 

14 

1 

90 

5 

3 

14 

5 

4 

13 

1 

26 

1 

11 

14 

2 

5 

19 

49 

2 

27 

20 

6 

14 

34 

232 

54 

72 

106 

61 

48 

128 

6 

$6,054,900 
1,704,666 
1,216,300 
1,036,360 
4,227,590 


Comparison  of  a  report  of  the  Board  with  figures 
showing  the  whole  number  of  strikes  and  lockouts 
occurring  in  any  year  since  its  formation  is  not  en- 
lightening as  to  the  value  of  the  Board's  service.  If 
we  take  the  year  1900  as  a  fair  specimen,  we  find 

'  The  Board  includes  in  the  total  number  of  eases  every  case 
brought  to  its  attention,  although  action  on  its  own  part  may  be  an- 
ticipated by  the  parties  themselves  or  otherwise.  The  efficiency  of 
the  Board  is  of  course  exaggerated  in  this  way.  Again,  as  Dr.  Durand 
says,  "  The  statements  made  in  certain  eases  are  not  sufficiently  spe- 
cific so  that  it  is  possible  to  determine  with  absolute  certainty  what 
was  accomplished  by  the  intervention  of  the  Board,  or  to  answer  cat- 
egorically some  of  the  other  questions  which  arise  as  to  the  pro- 
cedure." 


ARBITRATION  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES     337 

from  the  Sixteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  United 
States  Commissioner  of  Labor  that  there  were  in  Mas- 
sachusetts 77  strikes  (the  same  number  as  in  1899), 
involving  510  establishments,  and  11,874  strikers  ; 
16,208  persons  were  thrown  out  of  employment  by  the 
strikes  :  the  wage  loss  to  the  workers  was  $589,615, 
and  the  loss  to  the  employers  was  $530,000.  There 
were  two  lockouts  affecting  two  establishments  which 
had  1,535  employees :  150  employees  were  locked  out 
and  340  were  thrown  out  of  employment  by  the  lock- 
outs. In  the  same  year,  the  Board  reports  54  cases  of 
intervention  by  it  in  labor  troubles :  how  far  these 
cases  coincided  with  the  79  strikes  and  lockouts  re- 
ported from  Washington  there  is  no  means  of  deter- 
mining. Two  cases  of  arbitration  were  reported  by 
the  Board,  and  27  cases  of  conciliation,  making  54  per 
cent,  of  success  in  its  work. 

In  the  absence  of  data  giving  the  exact  proportions 
of  the  figures  from  Boston  to  those  from  Washington, 
one  is  led  to  fall  back  on  other  means  of  judging  the 
work  of  the  Board.  The  Board  appears  to  be  held  in 
general,  but  not  in  extreme,  respect  for  its  good  in- 
tentions by  the  people  of  the  State  who  know  of  its 
work ;  public  opinion  of  its  fairness  and  its  industry 
is  favorable,  but  one  cannot  say  that  the  Board  com- 
pares favorably  with  the  Railroad  Commission,  which 
has  had  such  great  success,  or  that  it  plays  a  promi- 
nent part  before  the  public  when  a  strike  is  on.  Its 
lack  of  power  to  arrest  the  strike,  or  to  arbitrate  with 
compulsory  power,  of  course  reduces  the  members  to 
the  station  of  friendly  advisers,  clothed  with  a  small 
amount  of  official  dignity.  The  reception  they  meet 
from  employers  or  employees  varies  according  to  the 


338      STATE  BOARDS   OF  CONCILIATION  AND 

politeness  possessed  by  these  latter,  and  the  treatment 
ranges  from  positive  discourtesy  to  amiability. 

The  Board  does  not  report  the  cases  in  which  its 
initiative,  or  its  recommendation  in  the  way  of  concili- 
ation, has  been  rejected  by  either  party,  or  by  both. 
Dr.  Durand's  table  gives  72  successful  cases  of  at- 
tempted conciHation  against  106  unsuccessful  cases,  — 
178  in  7  years.  But  by  making  allowance  for  settle- 
ments by  the  parties  themselves,  and  for  other  quali- 
fying factors,  the  number  of  the  so-called  "  failures  " 
would  be  considerably  reduced.  The  proportions  of 
failure  and  success  vary  from  year  to  year  ;  in  1900 
there  were  27  successes  against  20  failures.  Dr.  Du- 
rand's conclusion  on  the  total  activity  of  the  Board 
(1894-1900)  is  this  :  "  Including  together  the  cases 
which  the  Board  has  settled  by  means  of  arbitration 
and  those  in  which  its  mediation  has  hastened  or 
effected  a  settlement,  it  will  be  found  that  in  more 
than  half  of  the  total  number  of  cases  brought  to  its 
attention  the  efforts  of  the  Board  have  been  success- 
ful, in  greater  or  less  degree,  while,  if  we  should  elimi- 
nate those  cases  in  which  the  Board  found  itself  at  the 
outset  precluded  from  taking  any  action  whatever, 
the  proportion  of  successful  instances  would  be  con- 
siderably higher."  The  number  of  cases  reported  in 
1901  (108)  was  more  than  twice  as  large  as  for  1900, 
and  nearly  twice  as  large  for  1902  (193  cases)  as  for 
1901.  Allowance  should  be  made  increasingly,  as  the 
years  go  by,  for  the  number  of  references  to  the  Board 
under  joint  agreements,  —  many  of  these  references 
being  of  minor  matters  which  would  hardly  have  caused 
strikes,  if  not  so  referred.  One  shoe  corporation  in 
Brockton,  for  instance,  made  nine  such  references  in 


ARBITRATION  IN  THE   UNITED  STATES     339 

1902.  This  is  good  work  for  industrial  peace,  but  it 
does  not  mean  as  much  as  if  nine  different  establish- 
ments had  applied  to  the  Board  in  one  year.  It  is 
nevertheless  apparent  that  the  habit  of  resort  to  the 
Board  is  slowly  increasing  in  the  State,  and  the  Board 
possibly  commands  more  respect  as  time  goes  on. 
It  has  been  industrious  and  tactful,  while  not  dis- 
tinguished in  its  personnel ;  its  membership  could 
hardly  be  compared  with  that  of  the  Raili'oad  Com- 
mission. 

The  average  annual  number  of  cases  reported  by 
the  Board  from  1894  to  1902,  inclusive,  was  33  ;  the 
largest  number  (193)  was  in  1902  ;  the  smallest  num- 
ber (22)  in  1898  ;  the  total  for  the  nine  years  is  533 
cases.  The  average  number  of  cases  of  arbitration 
proper,  in  which  both  parties  joined  in  the  applica- 
tion, and  agreed  to  accept  the  decision,  has  been  small, 
absolutely  and  proportionally,  —  about  8  a  year  ;  the 
number  has  varied  from  1  to  14,  and  has  not  shown 
any  notable  tendency  to  increase  in  the  more  recent 
years,  there  being  9  cases  in  1901,  and  the  same  in 
1902.  Employees  have  refused  but  once  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Board  to  accept  the  arbitration  award,  and 
the  employers  have  in  no  case  so  refused.  Employers 
have  declined  to  agree  to  arbitration  in  7  cases  at  least 
where  the  employees  proposed  it,  while  the  reverse  has 
been  true  in  4  cases. ^ 

The  Board  usually  expresses  in  its  annual  reports  a 
sense  of  the  high  value  of  its  labors,  and  it  notes  an 

1  Only  in  its  report  for  1902  does  the  Board  emphasize  sufficiently 
the  importance  of  collective  bargaining',  as  distinguished  from  arbi- 
tration;  in  the  above  11  cases  the  distinction  may  have  been  more 
or  less  clear  to  one  of  the  two  parties  as  a  ground  for  refusing  arbi- 
tration. 


340     STATE  BOARDS   OF  CONCILIATION  AND 

"  increasing  tendency  to  arbitrate  differences  rather 
than  strike,"  shown  esj^ecially  in  1902  by  its  being 
called  upon  "  to  render  decision  in  more  than  twice 
as  many  cases  as  in  the  previous  year."  In  previous 
years  the  Board,  despite  its  general  optimistic  tone, 
had  frequently  lamented  the  slowness  of  employers 
and  workingmen  to  realize  the  value  of  conciliation 
and  arbitration,  as  proffered  by  the  State. 

The  New  York  State  Board  of  Mediation  and  Arbi- 
tration has  had  an  amount  of  success  which  ranks  it 
next  to  that  of  Massachusetts.  After  the  full  account 
given  of  the  latter  Board,  it  wiU  suffice  to  note  some 
points  of  difference  between  the  two.  A  feature  of  the 
New  York  law  not  to  be  commended  was  that  one 
member  of  the  Board  should  belong  to  one  of  the  two 
great  political  parties,  and  another  to  the  other  party. 
This  bi-partisan  rule  is  a  poor  substitute  for  non- 
partisanship  in  labor  matters ;  in  the  government  of 
cities  it  has  been  a  proved  failure.  The  third  mem- 
ber was  to  be  a  member  of  an  "  incorporated  "  labor 
organization.  There  was  thus  no  explicit  provision 
made  for  the  representation  of  the  employing  class, 
but  probably  it  was  always  intended  that  one  of  the 
other  members  shoidd  be  an  employer.  Both  parties 
to  a  labor  dispute  must  agree  to  submit  to  arbitra- 
tion for  the  Board  to  render  an  authoritative  decision. 
There  are  no  provisions  looking  toward  an  enforce- 
ment of  such  decisions.  The  Board  can  mediate  in  a 
strike  or  lockout  by  offering  its  services.  Each  of  its 
annual  reports  contains  brief  statements  of  cases  in 
which  the  Board  has  been  active,  and  the  laws  of  the 
various  States  concerning  arbitration  and  conciliation. 
The  Board  has  given,  at  various  times,  fuUer  reports, 


ARBITRATION  IN  THE   UNITED  STATES     341 


with  the  testimony,  of  important  cases,  such  as  the  trol- 
ley line  strikes  in  Brooklyn  and  Albany.  The  great 
strike  on  the  New  York  Central  Railroad  in  1890 
was  the  subject  of  a  special  report.  The  volumes 
have  also  included,  from  time  to  time,  important  doc- 
uments relating  to  arbitration,  like  the  laws  of  New 
Zealand  and  New  South  Wales.  In  this  way  the  New 
York  Board  has  done  more  to  enlighten  public  opinion 
on  the  existing  condition  of  the  arbitration  movement 
than  any  other.  In  1901  the  Board  of  Mediation  and 
Arbitration  was  legislated  out  of  existence,  and  all  its 
powers  and  duties  were  given  to  the  Commissioner  of 
Labor,  with  his  first  and  second  deputies.  The  reason 
given  for  this  change  was  the  economy  of  consolida- 
tion. 

The  following  table,  showing  the  work  of  the  Board 
for  1894-1900,  is  taken  from  volume  xvii.  of  the  "Re- 
port of  the  Industrial  Commission,"  page  450:  — 


Total  cases  of  intervention 

Arbitration  by  agreement  of  parties  . 

Public  hearings  and  reports 

Failure  to  settle  by  same 

Successful  mediation 

Unsuccessful  mediation  

Local  arbitration 


1894 
20 

1895 
25 

1896 
18 

1897 
26 

1898 
21 

1899 

1900 

29 

18 

2 

1 

- 

- 

2 

_ 

- 

1 

4 

3 

3 

_ 

6 

1 

1 

2 

2 

1 

- 

2 

_ 

9 

10 

7 

14 

10 

12 

14 

6 

9 

7 

8 

6 

11 

3 

2 

1 

1 

1 

3 

- 

- 

157 

6 

18 

8 

76 

50 


The  New  York  Board  failed  to  give  statistical  sum- 
maries of  its  work,  and  the  above  table  was  compiled 
by  the  experts  of  the  Industrial  Commission.  They 
note  that  cases  in  which  there  has  been  formal  arbi- 
tration in  pursuance  of  a  joint  application  of  the  par- 
ties for  the  settlement  of  their  dispute,  are  exceedingly 
rare ;  only  two  or  three,  even,  of  the  five  cases  noted 
in   the  table  were  cases  of  actual  joint  application. 


342     STATE  BOARDS   OF  CONCILIATION  AND 

The  Board  held  a  considerable  number  (18)  of  pub- 
lie  hearings  in  these  seven  years.  They  were  held  in 
cases  of  important  and  prolonged  disputes  in  which 
the  mediation  of  the  Board  failed  of  acceptance,  and 
in  nearly  half  of  these  cases  no  adjustment  was  brought 
about.  The  Board  emphasized  the  point  that  its  most 
important  office  is  that  of  conciliation.  It  reported 
126  cases  of  mediation  in  1894-1900,  of  which  76 
resulted  successfully  and  50  unsuccessfully.  The  Board 
generally  took  the  initiative,  and  it  lamented  the  fact 
that  the  law  did  not  give  it  powers  for  obtaining  in- 
formation concerning  strikes  like  those  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Board.  The  Board  held  optimistic  views  of 
its  work.  But  the  figures  given  above,  of  the  cases  of 
intervention  and  of  mediation,  do  not  bear  out  con- 
fident claims  of  success.  The  increase  in  the  number 
of  cases  is  comparatively  slight,  from  the  beginning  of 
the  work  of  the  Board  to  the  year  1900,  but  doubt- 
less the  Board  accomplished  no  small  amount  of  good 
in  the  direction  of  conciliation. 

The  chief  features  in  which  the  New  York  law  dif- 
fers from  that  of  Massachusetts  have  been  copied  by 
New  Jersey,  Michigan,  and  Connecticut.  The  Massa- 
chusetts law  has  been  more  closely  followed  by  Cali- 
fornia, Colorado,  Idaho,  Illinois,  Louisiana,  Montana, 
Minnesota,  Ohio,  Utah,  and  Winconsin  ;  but  of  all 
these  States  only  Ohio,  Illinois,  and  Wisconsin  have 
acccomplished  results  worth  mentioning.^  Indiana  has 
a  board  of  a  peculiar  construction.    Its  Labor  Com- 

^  One  of  the  weaknesses  of  the  majority  of  State  boards  of  arbi- 
tration, outside  of  New  York  and  Massachusetts,  is  the  payment  of 
the  members  by  the  day,  instead  of  by  a  salary.  A  casual  compensa- 
tion of  five  or  seven  dollars  a  day,  and  expenses,  is  not  likely  to  attract 
men  of  decided  ability  to  the  service. 


ARBITRATION  IN  THE   UNITED  STATES     343 

mission  consists  of  one  person  who  has  been  "  for  not 
less  than  ten  years  of  his  life  an  employee,  for  wages," 
and  another  who  has  been  "  for  not  less  than  ten  years 
an  employer  of  labor  for  wages  ; "  they  must  belong 
to  different  political  parties.  When  they  act  as  a 
board  of  arbitration,  there  is  associated  with  them  a 
judge  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  county  in  which  the 
controversy  has  arisen.  If  the  parties  so  desire,  the 
employer  in  the  dispute  may  choose  one  additional 
member  of  the  board  and  the  employees  another,  the 
judge  being  the  presiding  member.  Arbitration  proper 
takes  place  only  where  both  parties  apply  for  it.  The 
circuit  judge  may  compel  the  attendance  of  witnesses, 
as  if  he  were  sitting  in  a  regular  court.  The  decision 
of  the  arbitrators  is  binding,  and  no  limit  is  fixed  for 
its  duration.  Any  person  who  was  a  party  to  the 
proceedings  may  petition  the  Circuit  Court  to  enforce 
compliance  with  the  award,  if  necessary,  and  the 
court  will  issue  orders  to  give  effect  to  the  decision. 
Disobedience  is  considered  contempt  of  court,  but  the 
punishment  is  not  to  include  imprisonment,  except  in 
extreme  cases.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  Labor  Commis- 
sion to  put  itself  into  immediate  communication  with 
the  parties  to  any  strike  or  dispute  affecting  fifty  or 
more  persons.  If  it  does  not  succeed  in  five  days  in 
bringing  about  an  adjustment  or  a  submission  of 
the  case  to  arbitration,  it  must  go  on  to  investigate 
the  facts  and  cause  of  the  trouble.  It  must  report  the 
result  of  its  investigation  to  the  governor,  who  is 
authorized  to  publish  the  report  at  once.  Since  1897 
—  when  it  began  work  —  the  Indiana  Labor  Conmiis- 
sion  has  been  quite  an  active  body.  Arbitration  cases 
are  rare,  as  in  other  States.    Conciliation  rather  than 


344     STATE  BOARDS   OF  CONCILIATION  AND 

arbitration  is,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Commission,  a 
more  effective  and  satisfactory  method  of  settling  dis- 
putes. It  says  that  the  parties  interested  are  averse 
to  submit  questions  involving  the  correctness  of  their 
industrial  methods  and  the  welfare  of  their  business 
interests  to  the  judgment  of  the  most  impartial  per- 
sons who  have  only  a  rudimentary  knowledge  of  the 
intricate  matters  which  labor  controversies  often  in- 
volve. But  results  are  different  where  efforts  at  con- 
ciliation are  concerned. 

Beyond  the  States  whose  boards  of  arbitration  have 
been  thus  briefly  discussed,  very  little  has  been  accom- 
plished in  America  through  such  instrumentalities. 
A  number  of  States  have  passed  laws  providing  for 
boards  of  arbitration  which  have  never  even  been 
organized.  The  California  statute,  for  example,  goes 
back  to  1891.  A  board  was  appointed  under  the  act, 
but  it  has  not  held  a  meeting.  In  Connecticut  the  law 
of  1894  has  been  so  interpreted  by  the  courts  that  all 
important  powers  are  taken  from  the  board,  and  con- 
sequently there  has  been  no  practical  use  made  of  the 
provisions  of  the  law.  Several  States,  like  Iowa  and 
Texas,  provide  simply  for  the  institution  of  local  boards 
of  conciliation  and  arbitration.  There  has  been  a  great 
lack  of  results  under  these  laws.  In  New  Jersey,  ac- 
cording to  the  Industrial  Commission,  the  reports  of 
the  State  Board  of  Arbitration  contain  long  lists  of 
strikes  for  1895-1899,  with  the  simple  statement  in 
addition  that  the  board  always  offered  its  services  as 
mediator  or  arbitrator,  but  almost  invariably  the  em- 
ployer or  the  employees  refused  to  accept  them. 

From  this  re\aew  of  the  work  of  the  State  boards  of 
arbitration  in  this  country  and  of  the  arbitration  legis- 


ARBITRATION  IN  THE   UNITED  STATES     345 

lation  in  general,  it  will  appear  that,  while  four  or  five 
States  at  the  utmost  have  accomplished  results  entitled 
to  respect  in  various  degrees,  the  system  has  not  by 
any  means  approved  itself  as  fully  capable  of  coping 
with  the  industrial  difficulties  of  the  time.  Even  in 
the  two  States  where  the  boards  have  commanded  most 
respect,  their  total  activities  have  been  slight  by  the 
side  of  the  great  number  of  labor  troubles  which 
they  have  not  affected  to  any  considerable  extent.  In 
Massachusetts  there  has  been  no  strike  in  recent 
years  attended  with  any  notable  amount  of  violence, 
sufficient  to  necessitate  the  calling  out  of  the  State 
militia.  But  the  large  strikes  of  the  textile  workers 
of  Lowell  and  Fall  River  and  of  the  teamsters  in 
Boston  were  too  formidable  for  the  State  Board  to 
settle.  There  seems  to  be  no  marked  disposition  on 
the  part  of  the  trade-unions  of  Massachusetts  to  call 
in  the  Board,  while  doubtless  public  opinion  is  more 
favorable  there  to  this  method  than  in  any  other  State. 
It  is  an  impressive  comment,  however,  on  the  eighteen 
years'  work  of  the  Massachusetts  Board  that  nowhere 
else  in  America  is  there  more  of  a  demand  for  some 
measure  of  "  compulsory  arbitration."  The  final  word 
about  the  plan  of  State  boards  of  arbitration,  shown 
at  its  best  in  Massachusetts,  must  be  that  the  boards 
do  good  work  as  far  as  they  go ;  if  they  were  better 
paid,  made  up  of  abler  men,  and  entirely  free  from 
politics,  they  might  do  much  more.  But  on  the  whole 
they  are  not  taken  seriously  by  the  public  or  by  dis- 
putants. Where  they  have  accomplished  the  most, 
their  accomplishment  seems  slight  by  the  side  of  what 
is  desirable  in  the  way  of  preventing  or  settling  serious 
labor  troubles. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

LEGAL   REGULATION    OF   LABOR   DISPUTES  IN 
MONOPOLISTIC    INDUSTRIES 

The  general  opposition  in  tliis  country  to  legal  regu- 
lation of  labor  disputes  has  been  much  weakened  as 
regards  two  important  fields.  In  the  last  fifteen  years 
a  decided  opinion  in  favor  of  some  measure  of  so-called 
"  compulsory  arbitration  "  for  the  settlement  of  strikes 
on  transportation  lines  has  been  expressed  by  several 
State  boards  of  arbitration  (usually  emphatic  against 
such  "  arbitration  ")  and  by  other  authorities,  and  in 
the  last  five  years  there  has  been  considerable  discus- 
sion of  such  a  measure  for  the  control  of  anthracite 
coal  mines.  Public  attention  was  especially  excited 
in  this  direction  in  1902,  during  and  after  the  great 
strike  in  the  Pennsylvania  region. 

"  Compulsory  arbitration  "  is  one  of  those  mislead- 
ing phrases,  like  "  the  conflict  of  capital  and  labor," 
which  would  much  improve  economic  literature  by 
their  absence.  The  objections  to  the  term  are  fatal. 
The  thing  in  question  for  which  a  name  is  desired 
is  the  settlement  by  some  legal  authority  of  all  labor 
ti'oubles,  whether  this  refers  to  the  interpretation  of 
past  agreements  or  to  the  making  of  new  ones.  The 
word  "  arbitration "  applied  to  the  latter  case  is  a 
misnomer,  as  I  have  sufficiently  insisted.  "  Compul- 
sory conciliation  "  would  not  be  a  more  satisfactory 
term  than  "  compulsory  arbitration,"  as  "  conciliation  " 


LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES     347 

is  properly  applied  to  efforts  of  less  reach  than  arbi- 
tration, and  opposing  parties  are  not  really  conciliated 
by  compulsion.  It  is  needless  to  point  out  the  contra- 
diction within  each  phrase  between  the  first  word  and 
the  second.  Mr.  John  Morley's  epigram,  "  There  is  no 
greater  enemy  of  the  substantive  than  the  adjective  " 
finds  no  more  forcible  illustration  (though  probably 
not  quite  in  the  sense  that  he  had  in  mind)  than  in 
the  term  "  compidsory  arbitration."  Arbitration  and 
conciliation  are  essentially  voluntary  processes,  to 
which  both  parties  to  a  dispute  agree.  The  settlement 
cannot  be  compulsory  and  voluntary  at  the  same  time. 
The  compulsory  settlement  in  view  is  one  to  be  made 
by  law  and  executed  by  courts.  It  is,  then,  no  more 
compulsory  than  other  positive  laws,  to  all  of  which, 
when  they  give  a  command  with  a  penalty  attached  for 
disobedience,  the  adjective  "compulsory  "  of  course  ap- 
jilies.  It  is,  to  say  the  least,  a  superfluous  word  when 
legal  regulation  is  intended.  Laws  that  are  not  com- 
pulsory are  writ  in  water.  But  the  adjective  is  also 
one  of  ill  omen,  —  "  dyslogistic,"  as  Bentham  would 
have  said.  It  conveys  an  unfavorable  impression  from 
the  first.  The  disuse  of  such  superfluous  and  confus- 
ing terms  is  therefore  highly  desirable  if  we  would 
attain  clear  ideas.  I  do  not  wish  to  dodge  an  issue  by 
a  mere  change  of  terms,  but  rather  to  meet  it  more 
squarely.  The  phrase  "  legal  regidation  "  marks  with 
precision  the  fact  intended,  —  the  taking  of  labor  dis- 
putes into  the  field  of  law.  If  we  use  this  term,  issue 
can  then  be  joined,  with  some  probability  of  profitable 
discussion,  between  those  who  advocate  such  regula- 
tion and  those  who  oppose  it.  The  important  point 
always  is  how  far  this  regulation  should  extend.  "•  Legal 


348     LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES 

regulation  "  is  the  term  I  shall  henceforth  employ  in 
discussing  the  adjustment  of  labor  disputes  by  govern- 
mental authorities.  I  trust  that  it  may  prove  a  case 
of  the  use  of  words  as  counters,  not  as  money,  accord- 
ing to  Thomas  Hobbes'  definition. 

Railroad  corporations  have  received  from  the  public 
great  privileges,  in  the  right  of  eminent  domain  in 
laying  out  their  lines  and  in  the  practically  exclusive 
occupation  of  the  territory  over  which  they  run.  These 
privileges  constitute  a  quasi-monopoly  which  differs  in 
very  few  respects  from  a  complete  monopoly.  The 
power  which  granted  the  monopoly  must,  in  reason, 
be  free  to  readjust  from  time  to  time  the  terms  on 
which  it  shall  be  enjoyed.  Most  American  railroads  at 
the  present  time  do  an  interstate  business,  and  there- 
fore Congress  can  regulate  them.  But  the  various 
States  have  power  over  the  business  of  railroads  within 
their  boundaries,  and  it  will  probably  be  best  for  the 
States  to  begin  the  application  of  such  a  policy  as  is 
advocated  here  for  the  prevention  and  the  settlement  of 
disputes  on  railroads.  The  employees  should  be  per- 
mitted to  organize  freely  in  trade-unions,  but  ordinary 
strikes  should  not  be  allowed.  They  should  be  con- 
sidered, in  fact,  entirely  out  of  the  question.  (The 
recent  experience  of  Victoria  in  putting  down  a  strike 
on  one  of  the  state  railways  throws  much  light  upon 
the  relation  of  state-owned  railways  to  their  employees. 
The  strike  in  Holland  in  1902  is  also  instructive. 
Where  the  state  does  not  own  the  railway  lines  the 
permission  of  sympathetic  strikes  especially  would  be 
absurd.) 

Mr.   C.   W.   Clark  ^    has    advocated    a    system   of 

^  See  the  Atlantic  Monthly  for  Jan.,  1891. 


IN  MONOPOLISTIC  INDUSTRIES  349 

licenses  for  the  men  employed  upon  railways,  and  he 
would  inflict  the  penalty  of  loss  of  such  license  and 
consequent  expulsion  from  the  railway  service  upon 
any  person  who  left  the  employ  of  the  railway  without 
giving  due  notice.  He  would  constitute  legal  boards  of 
arbitration  ("  labor  boards  "  would  be  a  better  name), 
before  which  the  authorities  of  the  railway  and  their 
employees  must  bring  all  their  disputes,  not  imme- 
diately settled  by  themselves,  for  definite  adjustment. 
No  employee  wovdd  be  obliged  to  continue  at  work 
indefinitely  if  not  satisfied  with  the  award  of  the 
board.  If  the  railway,  on  the  other  hand,  should  be 
dissatisfied  with  the  rate  of  wages  fixed  by  the  board, 
it  would  be  allowed  to  change  its  employees  and  hire 
men,  if  it  could,  who  would  accept  the  previous  rate, 
but  it  should  not  be  allowed  to  interrupt  the  service 
which  it  owes  the  public  wliile  making  this  change. 

The  Board  of  Mediation  and  Arbitration  of  New 
York  has  distinguished  itself  among  State  boards  by 
the  ability  and  persistency  with  which  for  several 
years  it  advocated  legal  regulation  in  the  case  of  rail- 
way disputes.  It  made  a  special  report,  January  13, 
1891,  on  the  strike  which  occurred  in  August,  1890, 
on  the  New  York  Central  and  Hudson  River  Rail- 
road, —  one  of  the  formidable  railroad  strikes  of  the 
last  fifteen  years.  This  began  on  August  8,  and  was 
declared  "  off "  on  September  17,  having  proved  an 
entire  failure.  The  number  of  employees  involved  was 
between  4,500  and  5,000  ;  the  number  who  lost  their 
situations  because  of  joining  the  strike  3,500  to  4,000  ; 
the  loss  to  the  striking  employees  for  wages  was  be- 
tween 1300,000  and  $400,000 ;  the  loss  to  the  cor- 
poration was  estimated    as  $2,000,000.    The  public 


350     LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES 

suffered  incalculably,  and  travellers  were  exposed  to 
much  danger  of  their  lives.  Half  a  dozen  persons  were 
killed  by  accidents  consequent  on  the  strike  ;  numerous 
others  suffered  bodily  injury.  Three  men  were  sen- 
tenced to  terms  in  the  State  prison,  having  been  con- 
victed of  displacement  of  a  switch  near  Greenbush 
with  the  intention  of  throwing  a  passenger  train  from 
the  track. 

The  Board  was  informed  of  the  preparations  for  the 
strike,  and  tried  in  vain  to  prevent  it.  After  it  was 
declared,  they  conducted  a  public  investigation  which 
was  fully  reported.  The  superficial  cause  of  the  dis- 
pute was  the  discharge  of  a  considerable  number  of 
employees  at  various  times.  The  strikers  claimed  that 
these  men  were  discharged  because  they  were  Knights 
of  Labor.  The  company  declared  that  it  had  good  and 
sufficient  reasons  for  discharging  the  men,  without  re- 
gard to  the  fact  that  any  one  of  them  belonged  to  the 
order.  The  special  report  continues :  "  But  the  real 
cause  of  the  whole  trouble  lies  away  back  of  these  sur- 
face indications,  which  are  but  effects  that  are  to  be 
found  in  the  neglect  of  legislation  to  properly  regulate 
by  law  the  position  of  the  employee  and  the  employer  in 
the  railway  service  of  the  State,  which  is  a  public,  not 
a  private  service."  The  Board  commented  in  vigorous 
language  upon  the  monstrosity  of  two  such  forces  being 
arrayed  against  each  other  on  a  great  highway  of  travel 
and  transportation  through  the  centre  of  the  State,  a 
highway  created  and  established  by  the  people,  repre- 
sented in  the  Senate  and  the  Assembly,  primarily  for 
their  own  benefit.  The  railroad  corporation  engaged 
a  considerable  number  of  Pinkerton  men  to  guard  its 
lines,  and  the  strikers  were  directed  by  a  board  of  four 


IN  MONOPOLISTIC  INDUSTRIES  351 

members,  in  addition  to  the  Master  Workman  of  the 
Knights  of  Labor,  not  one  of  whom  was  a  citizen  of 
the  State,  one  being  a  resident  of  Canada.  Such  a 
spectacle  was  indeed  a  reductio  ad  absurdum  of  the 
claim  of  a  railroad  corporation  to  be  allowed  to  manage 
its  own  affairs  without  "  interference,"  as  it  is  usually 
pleased  to  call  it,  by  the  public. 

The  State  Board  repeated  in  1891  the  reconmienda- 
tions  which  it  had  made  in  its  preceding  reports  that 
the  Legislature  should  pass  laws  to  cope  with  this 
thorouglily  irrational  situation.  It  declared  that  pre- 
vention was  needed,  not  cure,  and  that  the  power  of 
the  State  to  regulate  railroads  would  justify  the  Legis- 
lature in  making  further  rules  with  regard  to  the 
relations  of  the  corporations  and  their  employees.  The 
State  had  prescribed  maximum  rates  for  travel  on  the 
lines,  and  the  results  were  satisfactory.  Why  not  use 
the  same  power  in  this  other  direction,  where  there  was 
so  gTeat  need  of  regulation?  The  Board's  recom- 
mendations for  legislation  indicated  seven  points  that 
should  be  covered  by  law  :  — 

1.  The  service  rendered  by  railroad  corporations  created 
by  the  State  is  a  public  service. 

2.  Entrance  into  such  service  should  be  by  enlistment  for 
a  definite  period,  upon  satisfactory  examination  as  to  mental 
and  physical  quaUfications,  with  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  peo- 
ple and  to  the  corporation. 

3.  Resignation  or  dismissal  from  such  service  to  be  per- 
mitted for  cause,  to  be  stated  in  writing  and  filed  with  some 
designated  authority,  and  to  take  effect  after  the  lapse  of  a 
reasonable  and  fixed  period. 

4.  Wages  to  be  established  at  the  time  of  entry,  and 
changed  only  by  mutual  agreement,  or  decision  by  arbitra- 
tion of  a  board  chosen  by  the  company  and  employees,  or 


352     LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES 

by  a  State  board,  or  through  the  action  of  both,  the  latter 
serving  as  an  appellate  body.  Other  differences  that  may 
arise  to  be  settled  in  like  manner. 

5.  Promotions  to  be  made  upon  a  system  that  may  be 
devised,  and  agreeable  to  both  parties. 

6.  Any  combination  of  two  or  more  persons  to  embar- 
rass or  prevent  the  operation  of  a  railroad  in  the  service  of 
the  people  a  misdemeanor :  and  any  obstruction  of  or  vio- 
lence toward  a  railroad  serving  the  people,  endangering  the 
safety  of  life  and  property,  a  felony  with  punishment  of 
adequate  severity. 

7.  Establishment  of  a  beneficiary  fund  for  the  relief  of 
employees  disabled  by  sickness  or  accident,  and  for  the 
relief  of  their  families  in  case  of  death,  as  is  done  upon  the 
lines  of  a  number  of  railroad  corporations  in  other  States. 

All  to  the  end  of  a  discharge  of  mutual  obligations  of 
railroad  corporations  and  employees,  the  enjoyment  of 
mutual  benefits,  and  the  securement  of  a  permanent  and 
satisfactory  service  to  the  people,  who  have  a  right  to  it, 
and  a  right  to  use  every  power  necessary  to  obtain  it. 

The  Board  concluded  its  report  with  a  forcible 
statement  concerning  the  importance  of  the  railroad 
business  and  the  interest  of  the  public  in  its  proper 
operation :  — 

"  The  railroads  of  this  State,  with  an  aggregate  capital 
of  $714,262,535,  operated  by  corporations  created  by  the 
people,  carried  during  the  last  fiscal  year  744,487,396  pas- 
sengers, and  transported  110,653,003  tons  of  freight.  For 
this  service  the  people  paid  them  for  passenger  service, 
$84,497,989  ;  for  freight  service,  $110,296,474  ;  a  total  of 
$194,794,463.  It  would  seem  to  be  superfluous  to  elab- 
orate argument  to  establish  the  fact  that  no  man  or  set  of 
men,  in  the  management  of  the  railroad  corporations,  or  in 
their  employment  in  the  State  or  out  of  it,  should  be  per- 
mitted to  have  it  in  their  power  to  arrest,  obstruct,  or  in 


IN  MONOPOLISTIC  INDUSTRIES  353 

any  manner  interfere  with  this   great  service  of   the  peo- 
ple." ' 

In  August,  1892,  the  most  serious  labor  disturbance 
of  the  year  in  New  York  occurred  at  Buffalo  —  a  strike 
o£  the  switchmen  on  the  railroads  centring  there.  The 
strikers  numbered  only  a  little  over  six  hundred,  but 
on  account  of  the  length  of  railroad  tracks  in  the  city 
and  the  manner  in  which  these  tracks  ramify  through 
the  streets,  it  was  very  difficult  to  enforce  law  and 
order,  and  a  large  body  of  troops  had  to  be  called  out. 
The  direct  and  indirect  cost  of  the  strike  was  esti- 
mated at  $300,000,  and  several  lives  were  lost  in 
consequence  of  it.  In  its  next  report  the  Board  there- 
fore reiterated  its  recommendations  of  previous  years 
with  fresh  emphasis.  It  quoted  with  approval  an  able 
paper  by  Hon.  Charles  Francis  Adams,  of  Massachu- 
setts, on  the  prevention  of  railroad  strikes,  in  which 
these  pregnant  sentences  occur  :  — 

*'  For  a  railroad  to  pause  in  its  operations  implies  paraly- 
sis to  the  community  which  it  serves.    Such  being  the  fact, 

1  The  individualist's  argument  against  these  proposals  of  the  New 
York  Board  —  "its  radically  vicious  remedy"  —  was  that  ''these 
schemes  ill  accord  with  Anglo-Saxon  ideas  of  personal  liberty.  The 
inherent  right  of  a  man  to  unite  with  others,  and  to  go  and  come  and 
work  when  he  pleases,  is  of  greater  consequence  than  the  business 
prosperity  of  railroads  or  the  convenience  of  the  public.  .  .  .  Personal 
liberty  should  never  be  sacrificed  to  the  necessities  of  railroad  trans- 
portation. ...  It  may  be  well  to  consider  whether  such  a  body  of 
industrial  soldiery  would  be  conducive  to  the  continuance  of  repub- 
lican institutions  and  the  independence  of  these  citizens  themselves." 
(Mr.  W.  W.  Cook,  in  The  Corporation  Problem,  1891,  pp.  78,  79.) 
Such  notions  of  a  natural  right  of  a  railroad  employee  to  come  and  go 
at  his  pleasure  have  a  remarkably  antique  flavor  to-day.  "  Pereonal 
liberty  "  to  arrest  the  transportation  system  of  a  great  State  and  to 
endanger  the  travel  of  thousands  is  a  curious  faith  to  set  up  —  as 
curious  as  the  imagination  of  danger  to  the  "  continuance  of  repub- 
lican institutions." 


354     LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES 

it  is  futile  to  argue  that  the  ordinary  relation  of  employer 
and  employed  should  obtain  in  the  railroad  service.  .  .  . 
The  permanent  service  of  a  great  railroad  company  should 
in  many  essential  respects  be  very  much  like  a  national  ser- 
vice, that  of  harmony,  for  instance,  except  in  one  particular 
and  a  very  important  particular,  to  wit :  those  in  it  must 
always  of  necessity  be  at  liberty  to  resign  from  it,  in  other 
words,  to  leave  it.  The  man  who  is  permanently  enrolled 
should  be  free  from  the  feeling  of  arbitrary  dismissal.  In 
order  that  he  may  have  this  security,  a  tribunal  should  be 
devised  before  which  he  would  have  the  right  to  be  heard 
in  case  charges  of  misdemeanor  are  advanced  against  him." 
Mr.  Adams  went  on  to  declare  that  the  only  way  to  give 
an  effectual  voice  to  the  employees  would  be  to  grant  them 
representation. 

The  Board  noted  the  coincidence  between  Mr. 
Adams'  general  plan  and  the  scheme  of  arbitration 
incorporated  in  the  New  York  statute  under  which 
the  Board  was  constituted.  This  scheme  was  for  arbi- 
tration voluntarily  accepted  by  employers.  The  Board 
continued  :  — 

Why  should  it  not  be  made  compulsory  upon  all  cor- 
porations created  by  the  State  for  public  service  ?  "  Rail- 
road corporations,"  says  the  Court  of  Appeals  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  "  hold  their  property  and  exercise  their  fran- 
chises for  the  public  benefit,  and  are,  therefore,  subject  to 
legislative  control."  There  are  three  principal  parties  in  the 
premises :  First,  the  people  of  the  State  of  New  York,  who 
create  railroad  corporations  primarily  for  their  own  benefit ; 
second,  the  railroad  corporations  thus  created ;  and,  third, 
the  men  who  operate  the  railroads.  The  State,  as  the  first 
and  principal  party,  possessed  of  undoubted  power,  should 
see  to  it  that  the  other  two  parties  agree  in  subserving  the 
ends  for  which  the  railroad  corporations  are  created,  vol- 
untarily, if  they  will,  and  compulsorily,  if  they  will  not 


IN  MONOPOLISTIC  INDUSTRIES  355 

The  people  should  be  protected  in  their  right  to  the  public 
service  for  which  they  have  created  the  railroad  corpora- 
tions. And  the  State,  having  provided  a  plan  for  the  settle- 
ment of  grievances  and  disputes  between  railroad  corpora- 
tions and  their  employees,  should  compel  its  use  by  those 
parties,  and,  in  case  they  cannot  agree,  step  in  itself  and 
settle  all  matters  in  controversy  between  them. 

The  report  of  the  Board  for  1894  spoke  in  detail 
of  the  great  Chicago  strike  of  Jime-July  in  that  year. 
"  The  forces  called  out  during  the  strike  to  protect 
life  and  property  and  preserve  order  nmnbered  1,936 
United  States  troops,  4,000  Illinois  State  militia, 
5,000  extra  deputy  marshals,  250  extra  deputy  sher- 
iffs, and  3,000  Chicago  police,  making  a  total  of 
14,186.  There  were  12  persons  shot  and  fatally 
woimded,  575  arrests  by  the  police,  71  arrested  and 
indicted  under  United  States  statutes,  and  119  ar- 
rested against  whom  indictments  were  not  found. 
The  Strike  Commission  appointed  by  President  Cleve- 
land 1  estimated  the  aggregate  pecuniary  loss,  saying 
nothing  of  incidental  and  consequential  losses,  to  be 
$7,097,367,  divided  as  follows  :  Loss  of  railroads  in 
property,  $685,308,  and  in  earnings,  $4,672,916  ;  loss 
of  Pullman  employees  in  wages,  $350,000  ;  loss  in 
wages  of  100,000  employees  on  the  24  railroads  cen- 
tring at  Chicago,  $1,389,143." 

Among  the  recommendations  made  by  the  Strike 
Commission  were  the  following :  — 

1.  That  there  be  a  permanent  United  States  strike 
commission  of  three  members,   with  duties  and  powers  of 

^  Hon.  C.  D.  Wright  was  the  chairman  of  this  Commission  •,  the 
other  members  were  J.  D.  Keman,  of  New  York,  and  N.  E.  Worth- 
ington,  of  Illinois. 


356     LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES 

investigation  and  recommendation  as  to  disputes  between 
railroads  and  their  employees  similar  to  those  vested  in  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission  as  to  rates,  etc. 

(a)  That,  as  in  the  interstate  commerce  act,  power  be 
given  to  the  United  States  courts  to  compel  railroads  to 
obey  the  decisions  of  the  commission,  after  summary  hear- 
ing unattended  by  technicalities,  and  that  no  delays  in 
obeying  the  decisions  of  the  commission  be  allowed,  pending 
appeals. 

(b)  That,  whenever  the  parties  to  a  controversy  in  a 
matter  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  commission  are  one 
or  more  railroads  upon  one  side  and  one  or  more  national 
trade-unions,  incorporated  under  chapter  567  of  the  United 
States  Statutes  of  1885-86,  or  under  State  statutes,  upon 
the  other,  each  side  shaU  have  the  right  to  select  a  repre- 
sentative, who  shall  be  appointed  by  the  President  to  serve 
as  a  temporary  member  of  the  commission  in  hearing,  ad- 
justing, and  determining  that  particular  controversy. 

(This  provision  would  make  it  for  the  interest  of  labor 
organizations  to  incorporate  under  the  law,  and  make  the 
commission  a  practical  board  of  conciliation.  It  would  also 
tend  to  create  confidence  in  the  commission,  and  to  give  to 
that  body  in  every  hearing  the  benefit  of  practical  know- 
ledge of  the  situation  upon  both  sides.) 

(c)  That,  during  the  pendency  of  a  proceeding  before 
the  commission  inaugurated  by  national  trade-unions,  or 
by  an  incorporation  of  employees,  it  shall  not  be  lawful 
for  the  railroads  to  discharge  employees  belonging  thereto 
except  for  inefficiency,  violation  of  law,  or  neglect  of  duty  ; 
nor  for  such  unions  or  incorporation  during  such  pendency 
to  order,  unite  in,  aid,  or  abet  strikes  or  boycotts  against 
the  railroads  complained  of  ;  nor,  for  a  period  of  six  months 
after  a  decision,  for  such  railroads  to  discharge  any  such 
employees  in  whose  places  others  shall  be  employed,  except 
for  the  causes  aforesaid ;  nor  for  any  such  employees,  dur- 
ing a  like  period,  to  quit  the  service  without  giving  thirty 
days'  written  notice  of  intention  to  do  so,  nor  for  any  such 


IN  MONOPOLISTIC  INDUSTRIES  357 

union  or  incorporation  to  order,  counsel,  or  advise  other- 
wise. 

2.  That  chapter  567  of  the  United  States  Statutes  of 
1885-86  be  amended  so  as  to  require  national  trade-unions 
to  provide  in  their  articles  of  incorporation,  and  in  their 
constitutions,  rules,  and  by-laws  that  a  member  shall  cease 
to  be  such  and  forfeit  all  rights  and  privileges  conferred  on 
liim  by  law  as  such  by  participating  in  or  by  instigating 
force  or  violence  against  persons  or  property  during  strikes 
or  boycotts,  or  by  seeking  to  prevent  others  from  working 
through  violence,  threats,  or  intimidations  ;  also,  that  mem- 
bers shall  be  no  more  personally  liable  for  corporate  acts 
than  are  stockholders  in  corporations. 

3.  The  Commission  does  not  feel  warranted,  with  the 
study  it  has  been  able  to  give  to  the  subject,  to  recommend 
positively  the  establishment  of  a  license  system  by  which  all 
the  higher  employees  or  others  of  railroads  engaged  in  in- 
terstate commerce  should  be  licensed  after  due  and  proper 
examination,  but  it  would  recommend,  and  most  urgently, 
that  this  subject  be  carefully  and  fully  considered  by  the 
proper  committee  of  Congress.  Many  raUroad  employees 
and  some  railroad  officials  examined,  and  many  others  who 
have  filed  their  suggestions  in  writing  with  the  Commission, 
are  in  favor  of  some  such  system.  It  involves  too  many 
complications,  however,  for  the  Commission  to  decide  upon 
the  exact  plan,  if  any,  which  should  be  adopted. 

The  'New  York  Board,  calling  the  attention  of  the 
Legislature  to  these  recommendations,  claimed  that 
the  regulation  desired  by  both  the  Commission  and  the 
Board  could  be  applied  best  of  all  by  the  State. 

The  Board  did  not  agree  with  the  Strike  Commis- 
sion's position  that  complete  reciprocal  obligations 
could  not  be  imposed  upon  labor. 

It  believes  that  such  obligation  can  be  imposed  upon 
labor,  and  that  this  imposition  is  the  key  to  the  whole  situa- 


358     LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES 

tion  —  the  solution  to  the  whole  problem.  .  .  .  The  differ- 
ence between  the  plan  of  the  federal  Commission  and  the 
plan  heretofore  suggested  by  this  Board  is  that  the  former 
assumes  a  disagreement  between  railroad  corporations  and 
their  forces  which  must  be  settled  by  decree  of  governmental 
power,  while  the  latter  provides  for  a  system  of  entry  of  the 
forces  into  the  employment  of  railroad  corporations  that 
would  obviate  disagreement.  The  Commission  aims  at  cure  ; 
the  Board  at  prevention.  The  Board  would  deal  with  the 
operating  forces  before  they  enter  the  employment  of  the 
corporations ;  the  Commission,  after.  Under  the  plan  of 
the  Board,  there  would  be  no  coercion  of  employees  to  obey 
tribunals  in  selling  their  labor,  and  no  encroachment  upon 
any  inherent  or  inalienable  right.  The  selling  of  their 
labor,  and  all  the  conditions  attendant  upon  it,  would  be  of 
their  own  free  will,  —  would  be  matter  of  voluntary  contract, 
and  perfectly  understood  by  the  contracting  parties.  The 
only  coercion  would  be  in  compelling  the  corjjorations  and 
the  operating  forces  alike  to  live  up  to  "  complete  reciprocal 
obligations." 

In  its  reports  for  1895-97,  the  New  York  Board 
returned  to  this  subject.  Again  it  put  aside  "  com- 
pulsory arbitration  "  in  general  as  an  infringement 
upon  the  inalienable  rights  of  the  person,  guaranteed 
by  the  laws  of  the  country.  But  again  it  expressly  ex- 
cepted common  carriers  and  similar  corporations  organ- 
ized under  the  laws  of  the  State  and  enjoying  special 
privileges. 

Two  other  State  boards  of  arbitration,  among  those 
whose  activity  has  been  of  some  importance,  have 
also  declared  themselves  in  favor  of  a  system  of  legal 
regulation  in  the  case  of  railway  and  trolley  lines.  The 
Ohio  State  Board  of  Arbitration  (Report  for  1899, 
p.  5),  apropos  of  the  strike  of  that  year  in  Cleveland 
on  the  troUey  lines,  advocated  "  a  constrained  resump- 


IN  MONOPOLISTIC  INDUSTRIES  359 

tlon  of  working  relations  between  the  parties  for  a 
limited  time,  pending  settlement,  arbitration,  or  other 
disposition,"  as  likely  to  be  of  "  incalculable  benefit 
both  to  the  parties  involved  and  the  public."  The 
Indiana  Labor  Commission  (Report  for  1899-1900, 
p.  11)  thus  speaks  of  the  necessity  of  such  regulation 
in  cases  where  the  public  is  especially  exposed  to  in- 
jury and  danger  :  — 

A  strike  in  a  factory  would  not  jeopardize  the  public's 
interest  to  the  same  extent  that  one  would  on  a  street-car 
line  of  a  populous  city  or  on  a  railway  system.  Strikes  and 
lockouts  involving  or  largely  affecting  freight  and  passenger 
traffic  cause  inconveniences  and  losses  of  the  gravest  con- 
sequence, and  that  frequently  culminate  in  a  necessity  for 
repression  by  force.  The  instrumentality  usually  employed 
has  been  the  constabulary  or  militia. 

Vesting  in  some  State  agency  the  power  to  enforce  arbi- 
tration when  the  public  welfare  is  paramount  to  all  other 
considerations  is  a  crying  need  of  the  times.  The  mere 
power  to  act  when  so  petitioned  would  not  fully  meet  the 
necessities  which  sometimes  arise.  Frequently  the  injuries 
sustained  by  the  public  are  greatly  more  grievous  than  those 
of  either  contestant,  or  both  combined,  for  that  matter. 
Several  times  this  situation  has  existed  in  Indiana,  and 
disastrous  consequences  have  followed  which  would  have 
been  averted  if  enforced  arbitration  had  been  provided  for. 
Those  with  experience  and  observation  know  that  often 
labor  troubles  progi-ess  with  an  ever-increasing  intensity ; 
both  sides  become  deaf  to  reason,  refuse  to  yield,  compro- 
mise, or  arbitrate  in  the  absence  of  State  intervention. 
Meantime  the  helpless  public  must  drift  defencelessly  along, 
suffering  from  evils  for  which  it  is  in  no  wise  responsible, 
and  from  which  there  is  no  relief  until  the  combatants  are 
either  coerced  by  force  or  have  expended  their  iU-directed 
strength,  and  by  their  exhaustion  are  forced  to  quit  the 


360     LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES 

fight.  Thus  upon  innocent  persons  are  entailed  pecuniary- 
losses.  This  fact  forces  us  to  confront  the  proposition :  Is 
it  not  the  duty  of  the  State  to  reduce  these  disturbances  to 
a  minimum  by  appropriate  legislation  ? 

In  the  opinion  of  your  labor  commission,  the  law  provid- 
ing for  arbitration  should  be  amended  in  two  particulars : 

First.  In  all  cases  where  disputes  arise,  from  any  cause,  it 
should  be  made  unlawful  for  a  lockout  or  strike  to  be  re- 
sorted to  without  first  attempting  conciliation,  the  offence 
to  be  punishable  as  a  misdemeanor. 

Secondly.  Whenever,  during  the  process  of  a  lockout  or 
strike,  human  life  is  jeopardized,  security  to  property  is 
threatened,  public  order  is  overthrown,  or  the  law  is  wil- 
fully defied  or  violated,  both  parties  to  such  lockout  or 
strike  should  be  required  to  obey  a  mandatory  order  to  sub- 
mit their  contention  to  arbitration  in  some  manner  mutually 
agreeable. 

The  judgment  on  this  subject  of  Mr.  E.  A.  Moseley, 
secretary  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission 
from  its  formation  in  1887,  carries  weight :  — 

Two  things  are  indispensable  to  the  prevention  of  strikes 
on  railways.  One  is  the  full  recognition  of  railway  labor 
societies  as  corporations.  The  other  is  the  settlement  of 
disputes  between  railway  employers  and  railway  employees 
by  means  of  compulsory  arbitration  between  the  men,  repre- 
sented by  their  labor  corporation,  as  one  party,  and  the 
stockholders  of  the  company,  represented  by  the  railway 
corporation,  as  the  other  party.  We  then  obtain  that  equality 
of  power  and  force  which  compels  the  essential  requisites 
of  friendly  relation,  respect,  consideration,  and  forbearance. 
.  .  .  Congress  unquestionably  has  power  to  compel  arbitra- 
tion. ...  It  is  but  a  step  further  to  provide  that  organizations 
of  railway  employees  shall,  when  disputes  arise  with  railway 
managers,  file  approved  bonds  with  designated  ofiicials  for 
and  in  behalf  of  the  men,  that  they  wiU  abide  by  the  deci- 


IN  MONOPOLISTIC  INDUSTRIES  361 

sion  of  the  board  of  arbitration ;  that  the  railway  corpora- 
tions shall  likewise  file  similar  bonds ;  and  that  awards  made 
under  such  conditions  shall  be  enforceable  in  the  courts.^ 

Professor  R.  T.  Ely,  in  his  "  Studies  in  the  Evolu- 
tion of  Industrial  Society"  (1903),  roughly  classifies 
industries  according  to  the  amount  of  legal  regulation 
to  which  labor  disputes  in  them  should  be  subject :  — 

Naturally,  railways,  telegraph  lines,  and  generally  the 
agencies  of  transportation  and  communication,  together  with 
lighting  plants  and  other  so-called  local  "  pubUc  utiUties," 
belong  in  a  .  .  .  class  in  which  the  social  interest  asserts 
itself  most  vigorously.  Here,  clearly,  the  interest  of  society 
is  paramount,  and  the  duty  of  preserving  the  continuous 
operation  of  these  industries  is  like  that  of  the  preven- 
tion of  crime.  In  other  words,  in  these  particular  cases  we 
should  have  courts  of  conciliation  and  arbitration  with  ade- 
quate powers  to  settle  disputes  without  a  recourse  to  private 
industrial  warfare  (p.  383). 

To  the  general  position  thus  taken  by  the  boards  of 
arbitration  of  New  York,  Indiana,  and  Ohio,  by  Mr. 
Adams,  Mr.  Moseley,  and  Professor  Ely,  I  do  not 
hesitate  to  give  a  cordial  assent.  Strikes  on  steam 
railways  or  street  lines  and  on  steamships  are  sure  to 
cause  untold  damage  to  the  public.  Strikes  and  lock- 
outs should  therefore  be  strictly  prohibited,  collective 
bargaining  should  be  required,  and  in  case  it  is  not 
effected,  the  law  should  in  some  way  settle  the  dispute 
with  final  authority.  Then,  if  the  employees  do  not 
relish  the  terms  imposed,  let  them  be  at  liberty  to 
withdraw  gradually  and  in  accordance  with  the  rules 
for  giving  notice,  without  disturbing  traffic.    It  is  dif- 

1  Arbitration  as  Applied  to  Railway  Corporations  and  their  Em- 
ployees,  by  E.  A.  Moseley,  pp.  16,  20  (1893). 


362     LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES 

ficult  to  conceive  a  self-respecting,  intelligent  society 
preferring  the  anarchy  and  riot  of  the  usual  strike  on 
a  railway  or  a  trolley  line  to  legal  regulation  of  such 
disputes  by  an  expert  commission. 

The  same  argument  will  apply  to  other  public  util- 
ities, like  gas  works,  electric  light  works,  and  water 
works  owned  by  companies.  Just  as  these  businesses 
are,  in  fact,  diverse  from  ordinary  private  businesses, 
so  they  should  be  more  subject  to  public  control  in 
respect  to  labor  relations.  The  two  parties  have  no 
proper  claims  to  be  "  let  alone  "  to  inconvenience  the 
public  as  much  as  they  see  fit.  If  they  will  not  of 
themselves  continue  to  supply  the  service  incumbent 
upon  them,  the  State  should  present  to  them  the  alter- 
native of  forfeiture  of  charter  and  other  privileges,  or 
the  acceptance  of  working  rules  imposed  by  a  govern- 
mental board. 

Other  industries  than  those  just  named  may  occa- 
sionally be  affected  by  disputes  which  inflict  immense 
injury  on  the  public,  as  in  the  case  of  the  anthracite 
coal  strike  of  1902  in  Pennsylvania.  Where  a  true 
monopoly  exists,  as  in  this  case,  the  same  arguments 
would  apply  as  in  the  case  of  railways.  But  self- 
interest  might  be  expected  in  most  cases  to  be  more 
potent  here  than  in  transportation  industries,  and  the 
sleeping  lion  would  not  need  to  be  aroused  so  often  by 
legislation.  That  a  large  part  of  the  American  public 
would  be  ready,  in  case  of  a  second  prolonged  strike 
in  the  anthracite  coal  mines,  for  even  such  a  drastic 
measure  as  appropriation  by  the  State  or  the  national 
government  is  probable,  judging  from  the  reception 
given  to  the  Democratic  platform  of  1902  in  New 
York,  which  proposed  such  a  measure.    The  unpre- 


IN  MONOPOLISTIC  INDUSTRIES  363 

cedented  action  of  President  Roosevelt  furnished  an 
easier  way  out  of  the  existing  trouble,  and  the  proposal 
naturally  reacted  at  the  polls  on  the  party  making  it. 
But  a  renewal  of  it,  in  similar  circumstances,  would 
be  highly  probable,  and  its  acceptance  scarcely  less 
so,  if  operators  and  miners  persisted  in  a  course  the 
inevitable  result  of  which  would  be  great  harm  to  the 
public.  A  people  which  has  shown  so  much  ability  in 
following  a  policy  of  statesmanlike  opportunism  should 
not  hesitate  long  to  adopt  a  system  of  legal  regulation 
of  labor  disputes  that  would  render  a  step  into  social- 
ism like  government  mine-owning  superfluous.  By  the 
side  of  such  a  measure  as  this,  a  scheme  like  the  New 
Zealand  labor  laws  would  be  "  animated  moderation." 


CHAPTER  XIV 

LEGAL    REGULATION    OF    LABOR    DISPUTES    IN   NEW 
ZEALAND 

New  Zealand  is  a  notable  experiment  station  in  the 
art  of  government.  It  has  been  the  first  country  in 
the  world  to  establish  a  large  measure  of  legal  regu- 
lation of  labor  disputes.  The  trial  has  been  prolonged 
for  eight  years,  and  appears  to  be  very  successful  so 
far.  The  method  followed  can  no  longer  be  dismissed 
as  impossible.  The  experience  of  New  Zealand  de- 
serves, on  the  contrary,  full  and  impartial  discussion. 

English  and  American  readers  have  gained  much 
of  their  knowledge  of  the  New  Zealand  "  Industrial 
Conciliation  and  Arbitration  Act  "  (to  give  its  legal 
short  title)  from  the  readable  little  volume  (1900) 
by  the  late  Henry  D.  Lloyd,  of  Chicago,  entitled  "  A 
Country  without  Strikes."  ^  As  this  is  very  accessible, 
I  shall  quote  mainly  from  other  sources. 

Mr.  Reeves'  candid   narrative  in   his   latest  work^ 

^  Mr.  Lloyd  visited  New  Zealand  in  February,  1899.  He  has  given 
a  briefer  account  of  the  workings  of  the  act  in  another  volume,  In 
Newest  England.  Mr.  Lloyd  was  set  down  by  one  of  his  critics  as 
belonging  to  "  the  impressionist  school  of  economics ;  "  but  economists 
should  not  disregard  serious  testimony  on  social  problems  because 
given  in  striking  literary  form  by  a  person  whose  ardor  may  be  under 
the  control  of  good  sense.  Mr.  W.  P.  Reeves,  the  author  of  the  act, 
speaks  of  Mr.  Lloyd  as  "  a  whole-hearted  champion,"  writing  from 
the  "cordially  sympathetic  standpoint,"  whose  "statements  on  mat- 
ters of  fact  "  are  "  correct  throughout."  I  can  bear  similar  testimony 
to  the  value  of  his  book  on  labor  copartnership  in  Great  Britain. 

2  State  Experiments  in  Australia  and  New  Zealand,  in  two  volumes, 


LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES     365 

gives  the  following  particulars  concerning  the  history 
of  the  New  Zealand  Arbitration  Act.  Introduced  in 
Parliament  in  1891,  but  not  passed  until  1894,  it 
went  into  operation  in  1896.  A  number  of  laws,  giv- 
ing opportunities  for  optional  arbitration,  had  pre- 
viously been  passed  in  Australia,  but  had  failed  to 
produce  appreciable  good  results.  The  South  Austra- 
lian compulsory  law  of  1894  was  also  a  failure.  The 
chief  reason  for  the  New  Zealand  law  was  the  long 
series  of  strikes  in  the  years  1890-94,  which  involved 
sailors,  wharf-laborers,  shearers,  station  hands,  boot- 
workers,  silver-miners,  coal-miners,  tramway  men,  gas- 
workers,  and  others. 

The  maritime  strike  of  1890  produced  a  profound 
effect  in  New  Zealand.  It  began  in  a  trifling  quarrel, 
which  might  easily  have  been  arranged,  over  the  dis- 
missal of  a  striker  for  being  a  union  delegate.  The 
colonial  steamship  companies  of  Australia  would  not 
tolerate  "  the  affiliation  of  a  union  of  steamship  officers 
with  the  Trade  and  Labour  Council  of  Melbourne  and 
the  Federated  Seamen's  Union."  Employers  and  union- 
ists were  determined  to  "  fight  it  out ;  "  a  great  strike 
ensued  which  spread  into  New  Zealand,  a  thousand 
miles  distant.  Seamen  and  wharf-laborei-s  and  the 
Union  Company  of  shipowners  "  were  drawn  into  a 
useless  and  mischievous  conflict.  .  .  .  The  public  were 
furious  at  the  entanglement,  and  rightly  so,"  and  they 
laid  the  whole  blame  upon  the  strikers.  The  maritime 
employers  were  likely  to  be  winners,  and  when  they 
were  invited,  in  pursuance  of  a  resolution  of  the  New 

London,  1902.  The  exposition  comes  down  to  May,  1902,  and  the 
book  was  published  in  November.  See  volume  ii.  chapter  i.  pp.  69- 
108,  for  the  full  treatment  of  Industrial  Arbitration. 


366    LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES 

Zealand  House  of  Representatives,  to  a  conference 
with  the  workmen,  tlie}'^  "  only  sent  a  representative 
to  refuse  flatly  to  concede  anything."  The  employers 
in  Sydney  and  Melbourne  were  equally  stiif-necked. 
"  Strongly  as  public  opinion  ran  against  unionism 
then  and  for  two  years  afterwards,  it  was  this  attitude 
which  gave  the  advocates  of  State  arbitration  their 
first  chance." 

The  shearers'  strike  began  in  Queensland  in  Jan- 
uary, 1891,  lasted  five  months,  and  involved  from 
eight  thousand  to  ten  thousand  men ;  the  result  was 
a  collective  bargain.  Much  violence  attended  the 
strike,  and  the  government  alone  spent  .£100,000  be- 
fore it  closed.  A  second  strike,  in  the  same  occupa- 
tion, two  years  later,  was  hopeless  from  the  first.  In 
the  Broken  Hill  silver  mines  of  Australia  there  was 
a  strike  against  piece-work  in  1892.  Five  thousand 
men  were  out  for  five  weeks,  losing  £200,000  in 
wages,  while  the  loss  to  the  employers  was  half  a 
million.  The  South  Australian  railway  department 
suffered  to  the  extent  of  £150,000.  The  strike  col- 
lapsed, and  some  of  the  strikers  were  severely  pun- 
ished by  the  courts,  as  others  had  been  in  the  shearers' 
strike.  The  mining  companies  "would  not  hear  of 
arbitration." 

By  this  time  "  unionists  everywhere  had  begun  to 
ask  for  a  law  which  should  make  it  impossible  for 
conference  and  arbitration  to  be  refused.  Sobered  by 
defeat,  they  cried  out  for  state  arbitration.  The  public 
mind  was  profoundly  affected,  and  sympathy  was  now 
to  some  extent  transferred  to  the  defeated  men.  .  .  . 
The  desire  for  something  juster,  fairer,  and  more 
peaceful  than  this  (the  strike  and  the  lockout)  was 


IN  NEW  ZEALAND  367 

strong."  In  the  Australian  colonies  no  results  of  con- 
sequence followed,  but  in  New  Zealand  "  an  arbitra- 
tion bill  was  drafted  in  1891 ;  and  somewhat  widely 
circulated.  Its  reception  was  the  reverse  of  enthusi- 
astic, and  it  was  postponed  for  a  year.  In  1892  it  was 
pushed  on  in  earnest."  But  the  draft  of  1891,  passed 
three  times  by  the  House  of  Representatives  before 
enactment,  was  amended  twice  by  the  Upper  Chamber 
"  striking  out  aU  the  parts  relating  to  compulsion  and 
the  arbitration  court."  A  general  election  occurred, 
and  this  was  followed  by  the  acceptance  of  the  biU, 
and  the  act  became  operative  about  the  end  of  1895. 
"  During  the  three  years  and  a  half  in  which  its  fate 
was  in  suspense,  it  neither  roused  the  least  enthusiasm 
nor  attracted  very  much  attention.  .  .  .  The  '  general 
public  '  was  not  interested  in  its  fate.  Only  the  trade- 
union  leaders  studied  its  provisions,  decided  to  sup- 
port it,  and  did  so  without  flinching.  They  neither 
conceived  nor  moulded  it,  but  they  accepted  it.  .  .  . 
Throughout,  its  framer  (Mr.  Reeves  himself)  refused 
all  compromise.  .  .  .  He  had  convinced  himself  that 
a  haK  measure  would  be  worse  than  none.  '  Frankly, 
the  bill  is  but  an  experiment,  but  it  is  an  experiment 
well  worth  the  trying.  Try  it,  and  if  it  fail,  repeal 
it.'  Mildly  interested,  rather  amused,  very  doubtful, 
Parliament  allowed  it  to  become  law." 

The  original  act  bears  the  date  of  August  31,  1894 
(No.  14).  It  has  been  amended  five  times  as  experi- 
ence showed  the  need  of  change.  The  alterations 
made  by  the  first  three  amendatory  acts  ^  were  incor- 
porated in  the  act  of  October  20,  1900  (64  Victoria, 

1  These  were  the  Amendment  Acts  of  October  18,  1895  (No.  30), 
October  17,  1896  (No.  57),  and  November  5,  1898  (No.  40). 


368     LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES 

No.  51)  "to  consolidate  and  amend  the  law  relating 
to  the  settlement  of  industrial  disputes  by  conciliation 
and  arbitration."  This  principal  act  was  again  amended 
by  the  act  of  November  7,  1901  (1  Edward  VII., 
No.  37).  In  the  following  abstract  the  law  will  be 
given  as  it  now  stands,  with  occasional  indications  of 
the  changes  made  between  1894  and  1901. ^ 

The  term  "  compulsory  arbitration  "  does  not  ap- 
pear in  the  title  or  the  text  of  any  of  the  six  New  Zea- 
land acts,  or  of  the  New  South  Wales  act  of  1901. 
The  act  of  1898  suppressed  in  the  title  of  the  ori- 
ginal act  the  words  "  to  encourage  the  formation  of 
industrial  unions  and  associations  and,"  preceding  the 
remaining  words,  "  to  facilitate  the  settlement  of  indus- 
trial disputes  by  conciliation  and  arbitration." 

The  short  title  of  the  present  principal  act  is  "  The  In- 
dustrial Conciliation  and  Arbitration  Act,  1900,"  the  decla- 
ration of  purpose  having  been  omitted  in  consolidation.  The 
general  administration  of  the  act  is  in  the  hands  of  the 
Minister  for  Labor  and  the  Secretary  for  Labor,  who  is 
the  registrar  of  "  industrial  unions." 

Registration.  —  Any  society  consisting  of  not  less  than 
two  persons  in  the  case  of  employers,  or  seven  in  the  case 

^  See  The  Labour  Laws  of  New  Zealand,  third  edition,  Wellington, 
1902,  pp.  106-147.  The  law  previous  to  1900  is  given  in  vol.  xvi.  of 
the  Report  of  the  United  States  Industrial  Commission,  pp.  203-214, 
with  an  appended  abstract  by  Mr.  W.  F.  Willoughby,  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Labor.  The  amendments  made  by  the  acts  of  1895,  1896, 
and  1898  were  incorporated  by  Mr.  Willoughby,  with  notes  and  foot- 
notes to  indicate  the  nature  and  the  dates  of  the  alterations.  The 
Report  reprints  this  matter  from  the  Bulletin  of  the  Department  of 
Labor  (No.  33),  vol.  vi.  pp.  207-230.  I  follow  here  the  Consolidated 
Act  of  1900,  noting  the  changes  made  by  the  amending  act  of  1901. 
These  two  documents  are  given  in  full  in  the  Fifteenth  Annual  Report 
of  the  New  York  Board  of  Mediation  and  Arbitration  (Albany,  1902), 
pp.  .303-357.  The  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  (No.  49),  gives  the 
act  of  1900  as  amended  in  1901,  pp.  1282-1311. 


IN  NEW  ZEALAND  ^       369 

of  workers,^  lawfully  associated  for  the  purpose  of  protect- 
ing or  furthering  the  interests  of  employers  or  workers  in  or  in 
connection  with  any  specified  industry  ^  or  industries  in  the 
colony,^  may  be  registered  as  an  industrial  union  *  under 
the  following  conditions.  The  written  application  for  regis- 
tration must  give  the  name  of  the  proposed  industrial  union 
of  employers  or  of  workers  ;  the  resolution  passed  by  a  ma- 
jority of  the  members  of  the  society  desiring  registration 
present  at  a  meeting  "  specially  called  for  that  purpose 
only  ;  "  and  the  rules  of  the  society.  These  rules,  in  addition 
to  the  more  common  provisions  for  good  business  manage- 
ment, must  provide  the  mode  in  which  "  industrial  agree- 
ments "  shall  be  made  and  executed,  and  in  what  manner 
the  society  shall  be  represented  in  any  proceedings  before 
a  board  of  conciliation  for  an  industrial  district  or  the 
court  of  arbitration  constituted  under  the  act.  No  member, 
under  the  rules,  "  shall  discontinue  his  membership  without 
giving  at  least  three  months'  notice,"  or  until  he  "  has  paid 
aU  fees,  fines,  levies,  or  other  dues  payable  by  him."  If  any 
member  is  in  arrears  for  twelve  months,  his  name  shall  be 
struck  ofE  from  the  roll,  but  he  shall  be  still  liable  for  pay- 
ment of  these  arrears.  These  preliminaries  having  been  ar- 
ranged, "  the  registrar  shall  without  fee,  register  the  society 
as  an  industrial  union,"  and  issue  a  certificate  of  registra- 
tion. 

1  The  New  South  Wales  act  says  "  any  person  or  association  of 
persons  "  having  employed  '"  not  less  than  fifty  employees  ;  "  the  New 
Zealand  act  defines  "  employer  "  to  include  "  persons,  firms,  com- 
panies, and  corporations  employing  one  or  more  workers."  "  Worker  " 
was  defined  in  1901  as  "  any  person  of  any  age,  of  either  sex,  em- 
ployed by  any  employer  to  do  any  skilled  or  unskilled  manual  or 
clerical  work  for  hire  or  reward." 

^  "  '  Industry  '  means  any  business,  trade,  manufacture,  undertak- 
ing, calling,  or  employment  in  which  workers  are  employed." 

^  Under  a  provision  of  the  law  of  1901  a  company  registered  out  of 
New  Zealand  and  carrying  on  business  in  that  country  through  an 
agent  with  a  power  of  attorney  may  be  registered  as  an  industrial 
union  of  employers. 

*  "  Union  "  in  this  abstract  means  "  industrial  union  "  hereafter,  un- 
less otherwise  stated. 


370     LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES 

"Every  society  registered  as  an  industrial  union' shall  as 
from  the  date  of  registration,  but  solely  for  the  purposes  of 
this  act,  become  a  body  corporate  by  the  registered  name, 
having  perpetual  succession  and  a  common  seal."  The 
unions  are  named  in  this  manner  :  "  The  Christchurch 
Grocers  Industrial  Union  of  Employers,"  or  "  The  Welling- 
ton Tram  Drivers  Industrial  Union  of  Workers."  Any 
trade-union  already  registered  under  the  Trade-Union  Act 
of  1878  may  be  registered  under  the  same  name,  the  in- 
sertion of  the  particulars  just  instanced  being  provided  for  ; 
"  every  branch  of  a  trade-union  shall  be  considered  a  dis- 
tinct union,  and  may  be  separately  registered  as  an  indus- 
trial union ; "  and  the  existing  rules  of  the  trade-union, 
when  consistent  with  this  act,  shall  become  the  rules  of  this 
industrial  union.  In  the  case  of  employers,  "  where  a  co- 
partnership firm  is  a  member  of  the  society,"  each  partner 
residing  in  the  colony  shall  be  deemed  a  member,  and 
must  be  named  on  the  list ;  "  where  the  society  to  be  regis- 
tered is  an  incorporated  company  "  this  rule  does  not  apply. 
"  Any  company  incorporated  under  any  act  may  be  regis- 
tered as  an  industrial  union  of  employers  "  by  vote  of  the 
directors  :  if  the  articles  or  rules  of  such  a  company  are 
repugnant  in  any  way  to  this  act,  they  shall  be  construed 
as  applying  exclusively  to  the  company.  The  registrar  may 
refuse  a  registration  when  in  the  same  territory  and  the 
same  industry  there  is  already  an  industrial  union  which 
the  men  could  conveniently  join.  Appeal  may  be  made 
from  the  registrar  to  the  court  in  such  a  case,  the  burden  of 
proof  being  on  the  applicants.  "  The  effect  of  registration 
shall  be  to  render  the  industrial  union,"  and  all  its  mem- 
bers, present  or  future,  "■  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  "  of  the 
boards  and  the  court,  "  and  liable  to  all  the  provisions  of  this 
act,"  and  they  "shall  be  bound  by  the  rules  of  the  indus- 
trial union."  A  printed  copy  of  these  rules  shall  be  given 
to  any  person  on  payment  of  not  more  than  one  shilling. 

"  All  fees,  fines,  levies,  or  dues  payable  to  an  industrial 
union "  by  any  member  may  "  be  sued  for  and  recovered 


IN  NEW  ZEALAND  371 

in  the  name  of  the  union  in  any  covu't  of  competent  juris- 
diction." A  union  "  may  purchase  or  take  on  lease,  in  the 
name  of  the  union  or  the  trustees  for  the  union,  any  house 
or  building,  and  any  land  not  exceeding  five  acres,  and  may 
sell,  mortgage,  exchange,  or  let  the  same  or  any  jjart  thereof." 
*'  Every  industrial  union  may  sue  or  be  sued  for  the  purposes 
of  this  act  by  the  name  by  which  it  is  registered."  In  Jan- 
uary of  each  year  every  union  must  report  its  membership 
in  detail  to  the  registrar,  to  be  reported  by  him  to  Parlia- 
ment. A  union  may  have  its  registration  cancelled  by  the 
registrar,  after  six  weeks'  public  notice  by  him,  but  this  shall 
not  be  done  "  during  the  progress  of  any  conciliation  or 
arbitration  proceedings  affecting  such  union  until  the  board 
or  court  has  given  its  decision  or  made  its  award  ; "  the 
registrar  must  be  satisfied  that  the  cancellation  is  desired  by 
a  majority  of  the  members.  "  The  effect  of  the  cancella- 
tion shall  be  to  dissolve  the  incorporation,"  but  the  effect  is 
purely  for  the  future  :  jjrior  industrial  agreements  and 
awards  or  orders  of  the  court  shall  not  be  affected.  If  two 
or  more  unions  in  an  industry  are  represented  by  a  council 
or  other  body,  it  may  be  registered  as  an  "  industrial  asso- 
ciation "  which  shall  have  all  the  powers  of  a  union,  except 
in  regard  to  the  membership  of  the  boards  and  the  court. . 
Related  Trades.  —  An  industrial  dispute  coming  under 
the  act,  which  is  referred  for  settlement,  may  be  one  occur- 
ring in  the  industry  of  the  party  making  application  or  in 
"  any  industry  i-elated  thereto."  Related  industries  are  de- 
fined as  "  branches  of  the  same  trade,"  or  "  so  connected 
that  industrial  matters  relating  to  the  one  may  affect  the 
other  ;  thus  bricklaying,  masonry,  carpentering,  and  paint- 
ing are  related  industries,  being  all  branches  of  the  building 
trade."  The  governor  has  power  to  declare  in  the  "  Gazette  " 
from  time  to  time  what  industries  shall  be  considered  related, 
and  the  court  has  the  same  power  in  any  industrial  dispute. 
A  union  may  bring  a  case  before  the  board  or  court  without 
any  member  of  the  union  being  employed  by  any  party  to 
the  dispute  or  being  personally  concerned. 


372     LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES 

Industrial  Agreements.  —  Industrial  agreements  may  be 
made  only  by  trade-unions  or  industrial  unions,  or  associa- 
tions, or  employers.  Such  agreements  may  provide  for  any 
matter  or  thing  affecting  any  industrial  matter,  or  for  the 
prevention  or  settlement  of  a  dispute.  They  are  to  be  valid 
for  a  time  not  longer  than  three  years,  and  must  begin  with 
a  reference  to  the  Conciliation  and  Arbitration  Act  as 
their  authority.  If  this  term  expires,  the  agreement  "  shall 
continue  in  force  until  superseded  by  another  ...  or  by 
an  award  of  the  court,"  unless  the  workers'  union  has  can- 
celled its  registration.  While  this  agreement  is  in  force  any 
union,  or  association,  or  employer  may  become  a  party  to  it 
by  filing  a  notice  in  the  prescribed  form.  Every  such  agree- 
ment "  shall  be  binding  on  the  parties  thereto  and  also  on 
every  member  of  any  industrial  union  or  industrial  associa- 
tion which  is  a  party  thereto  ;  "  it  "  may  be  varied,  renewed, 
or  cancelled  "  by  any  subsequent  agreement  by  all  the 
parties. 

Conciliation  Boards.  —  New  Zealand  is  to  be  divided  by 
the  governor  into  such  industrial  districts  [now  eight], 
with  such  names  and  boundaries  as  he  thinks  fit.  A  clerk 
of  awards  is  appointed  for  each  district :  he  may  hold  some 
other  office  in  the  public  service.  As  a  permanent  officer,  he 
is  to  discharge  all  the  usual  duties  of  a  clerk  of  courts,  con- 
vening the  board,  issuing  summonses,  acting  as  returning 
officer,  and  the  like. 

For  every  industrial  district  a  board  of  conciliation  is 
established,  with  jurisdiction  over  disputes  referred  to  it. 
It  shall  consist  of  an  unequal  number  of  persons,  as  the  gov- 
ernor determines,  but  not  more  than  five.  The  chairman  is 
to  be  elected  by  the  other  members,  who  shall  themselves 
be  elected  in  equal  number  by  the  respective  unions  of  em- 
ployers and  of  workers  in  the  district,  the  unions  voting 
separately.  The  members  hold  office  for  three  years,  or 
until  their  successors  are  chosen,  and  are  eligible  for  re- 
election. If  the  number  of  persons  validly  nominated  does 
not  exceed  the  number  to  be  elected,  the  clerk  "  shall  at 


IN  NEW  ZEALAND  373 

once  declare  such  persons  elected."  Each  union  shall  have 
as  many  votes  as  there  are  persons  to  be  elected,  and  these 
votes  may  be  cumulative  :  in  the  case  of  a  tie  the  clerk  has 
a  casting  vote.  His  decision  of  any  disputed  point  in  the 
election  is  final.  He  convenes  the  new  board,  who  first  pro- 
ceed to  elect  a  chairman,  not  one  of  their  number.  If  the 
chairman  or  any  member  of  the  board  is  found  to  be  guilty 
of  inciting  any  industrial  union  or  employer  to  commit  any 
breach  of  an  industrial  agreement  or  award,  or  is  absent 
during  four  consecutive  sittings  of  the  board,  his  office  shall 
thereby  become  vacant,  A  quorum  must  include  the  chair- 
man and  one  member  "  of  each  side."  A  majority  of  votes 
of  the  members  present,  exclusive  of  the  chairman,  shall 
decide  any  matter  before  the  board  :  the  chairman  may 
have  a  casting  vote,  however.  "  The  board  may  act  not- 
withstanding any  vacancy,"  informality  in  election,  or  sup- 
posed incapacity  of  a  member  :  the  governor  may  extend 
for  not  more  than  one  month  the  term  of  office  of  the  mem- 
bers in  order  to  enable  the  board  to  dispose  of  a  dispute 
before  it. 

"A  special  board  of  conciliators  shall,  on  the  application 
of  either  party  to  the  dispute  ...  be  constituted  from  time 
to  time  to  meet  any  case  of  industrial  dispute  :  "  it  shall  take 
the  place  of  the  conciliation  board,  and  be  elected  in  the  same 
general  manner,  but  the  members  must  be,  excepting  the 
chairman,  "  experts  in  the  particular  trade  under  dispute  ;  " 
all  or  any  of  them  may  be  members  of  an  existing  board  of 
conciliation. 

"  Any  industrial  dispute  may  be  referred  for  settlement 
to  a  board  by  application  in  that  behalf  made  by  any  party 
thereto."  The  employer,  who  is  a  party,  may  appear  in 
person  or  by  his  agent  duly  appointed  in  writing.  The  in- 
dustrial union  or  association  may  appear  by  its  chairman, 
or  secretary,  or  by  any  number  of  persons  (not  exceeding 
three)  appointed  in  writing  by  the  chairman.  "  No  counsel, 
or  barrister,  or  solicitor,  whether  acting  under  a  power  of 
attorney  or  otherwise,  shall  be  allowed  to  appear  or  be  heard 


374     LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES 

before  a  board,  or  any  committee  thereof,  unless  all  the 
parties  to  the  reference  expressly  consent  thereto,  or  unless 
he  is  a  bona  fide  employer  or  worker  in  the  industry  to 
which  the  dispute  relates  :  "  every  party  appearing  by  a 
representative  shall  be  bound  by  his  acts. 

"  The  board  shall  in  such  manner  as  it  thinks  fit,  care- 
fully and  expeditiously  inquire  into  the  dispute,  and  all 
matters  affecting  the  merits  thereof,  and  the  right  settle- 
ment thereof."  It  shall  have  all  the  powers  of  summoning 
witnesses,  administering  oaths,  compelling,  hearing,  and 
receiving  evidence,  and  preserving  order  which  are  by  this 
act  conferred  on  the  court,  save  and  except  the  production 
of  books.  "  It  may  make  aU  such  suggestions  and  do  aU 
such  things  as  it  deems  right  and  proper  for  inducing  the 
parties  to  come  to  a  fair  and  amicable  settlement  of  the 
dispute,"  and  it  may  adjoui'n  the  proceedings  for  any 
reasonable  period,  to  allow  the  parties  to  agree  upon  a 
settlement.  It  may  refer  the  dispute  to  a  committee  of  its 
members,  made  up  equally  of  the  representatives  of  em- 
ployers and  of  workers,  to  facilitate  a  settlement.  If  a  set- 
tlement is  reached  by  the  pai'ties  "  it  shall  be  set  forth  in 
an  industrial  agreement ;  "  when  this  is  duly  executed  and 
filed,  the  board  shall  report  the  fact  to  the  clerk.  In  the 
absence  of  such  a  settlement  "  the  board  shall  make  such 
recommendation  for  the  settlement  of  the  dispute  according 
to  the  merits  and  substantial  justice  of  the  case  as  the  board 
thinks  fit."  "  The  recommendation  shall  deal  with  each 
item  of  the  dispute  and  state  in  plain  terms,  avoiding  as 
far  as  possible  all  technicalities,  what,  in  the  board's  opin- 
ion, should  or  should  not  be  done  by  the  respective  parties." 
It  shall  state  the  period  during  which  the  proposed  settle- 
ment should  continue  in  force,  being  in  no  case  less  than 
six  months  nor  more  than  tlu*ee  years,  and  also  the  date 
from  which  it  should  commence,  being  not  sooner  than  one 
raionth  nor  later  than  three  months  after  the  date  of  the 
recommendation.  The  board's  report  must  be  made  witliin 
two  months  after  the  application   for  reference  was  filed, 


IN  NEW  ZEALAND  375 

"  or  within  such  extended  period,  not  exceeding  an  addi- 
tional month,  as  the  board  thinks  fit."  The  members  of  the 
board  take  the  usual  oath  on  assuming  their  functions, 
including  a  statement  that  "  except  in  the  discharge  of  their 
duties  they  will  not  disclose  to  any  person  any  evidence  or 
other  matter  brought  before  the  board." 

"  If  all  or  any  of  the  parties  to  the  reference  are  willing 
to  accept  the  board's  recommendation,  either  as  a  whole  or 
with  modifications,"  they  may  within  a  month  "  either  exe- 
cute and  file  an  industrial  agreement,"  or  file  "  a  memoran- 
dum of  settlement."  This  latter  document  must  state  with 
what  modifications,  if  any,  the  recommendation  is  accepted  : 
the  board's  recommendation  shall  thereupon,  in  harmony 
with  the  memorandum,  operate  and  be  enforceable  in  the 
same  manner  in  all  respects  as  an  industrial  agreement. 
At  any  time  before  the  board  files  a  recommendation,  all 
or  any  of  the  parties  may  by  memorandum  of  consent  agree 
to  accept  the  recommendation ;  in  such  case  the  recom- 
mendation shall  be  as  potent  as  an  industrial  agreement. 
If  the  recommendation  of  the  board  is  not  acceptable  to  the 
jjarties  to  the  dispute,  any  of  them  may,  within  a  month 
after  it  is  made,  refer  the  dispute  to  the  court :  but  if  no 
such  reference  has  been  made  by  the  end  of  the  month,  the 
board's  recommendation  shall  stand  valid  as  an  industrial 
agreement. 

The  Court  of  Arbitration.  —  A  single  Court  of  Arbitra- 
tion is  established  for  the  whole  colony,  to  consist  of  three 
members  appointed  by  the  governor.  One  shall  be  ap- 
pointed on  the  recommendation  of  the  employers'  unions 
and  one  on  that  of  the  workers'  unions.  The  third,  the 
president  of  the  court,  shall  be  a  judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  (If  either  of  the  unions  fall  to  recommend  a  name, 
the  governor  shall  appoint  a  fit  person.)  The  members  hold 
oflice  for  three  years,  or  until  the  appointment  of  their  suc- 
cessors, and  are  eligible  for  reappointment.  The  otfice  may 
become  vacant  for  the  same  reason  as  in  the  case  of  the 
Conciliation  Board,  and  the  members  take  the  same  oath. 


376     LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES 

The  governor  may  appoint  such  clerks  and  other  officers  of 
the  court  as  he  sees  fit.  The  parties  to  the  proceedings 
shall,  in  general,  be  the  same  as  in  proceedings  before  the 
boards,  and  the  provisions  for  their  appearance  personally, 
by  agent,  or  by  counsel,  shall  be  the  same.  "  The  court 
shall  in  all  matters  before  it  have  full  and  exclusive  juris- 
diction to  determine  the  same  in  such  manner  in  all  respects 
as  in  equity  and  good  conscience  it  thinks  fit." 

Evidence.  —  Formal  matters  which  have  been  proved  or 
admitted  before  the  board  shall  be  deemed  to  be  proved. 
The  clerk  shall  issue  a  summons  to  any  person  desired  by 
any  of  the  parties  to  give  evidence ;  he  shall  be  required  to 
produce  books,  papers,  or  other  documents  in  his  possession 
or  under  his  control  relating  in  any  way  to  the  proceedings. 
These  may  be  inspected  by  the  court,  and  "  by  such  of  the 
parties  as  the  court  allows ;  but  the  information  obtained 
therefrom  shall  not  be  made  public."  A  person  summoned 
who  fails  to  attend  or  produce  evidence  required  in  print  or 
writing  is  liable  to  a  penalty  not  exceeding  twenty  pounds 
or  to  imprisonment  not  exceeding  one  month.  The  court, 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  evidence  of  witnesses  at  a  dis- 
tance, has  all  the  powers  and  functions  of  a  stipendiary 
magistrate  :  it  may  take  evidence  on  oath  ;  it  may  "  accept, 
admit,  and  call  for  such  evidence  as  in  equity  and  good 
conscience  it  thinks  fit,  whether  strictly  legal  evidence  or 
not,"  and  it  may  compel  any  party  to  the  proceedings  to 
give  evidence.  The  president  and  at  least  one  other  mem- 
ber must  be  present  at  every  sitting ;  a  majority  of  those 
present  decide  the  case.  The  court  may  refer  any  matters 
before  it  to  a  board  for  investigation  and  report,  and  may 
base  its  award  on  the  report  of  the  board.  It  may  "  dis- 
miss any  matters  referred  to  it  which  it  thinks  frivolous  or 
trivial,"  and  award  costs  against  the  plaintiff.  In  its  award 
the  court  may  deal  with  the  question  of  costs,  as  it  sees  fit, 
but  in  no  case  shall  it  allow  costs  on  "  account  of  agents, 
solicitors,  or  counsel." 

Atvards. — The  award  must  be  made  within  one  month ;  in 


IN  NEW  ZEALAND  377 

special  circumstances  in  a  longer  time.  It  shall  be  framed 
"  in  such  a  manner  as  shall  best  express  the  decision  of  the 
court,  avoiding  all  technicality  where  possible."  It  shall 
hold  good  for  a  specified  period  not  exceeding  three  years, 
and  it  shall  continue  in  force  until  a  new  award  has  been 
duly  made,  except  where  a  union  of  workers  has  cancelled 
its  registration.  "  The  award  shall  also  state  in  clear  terms 
what  is  or  is  not  to  be  done  by  each  party  on  whom  the 
award  is  binding,  or  by  the  workers  affected  by  the  award, 
and  may  provide  for  an  alternative  course  to  be  taken  by 
any  party,  provided  that  in  no  case  shall  the  court  have 
power  to  fix  any  age  for  the  commencement  or  termination 
of  apprenticeship.  The  award  shall  extend  to  and  bind 
as  subsequent  party  thereto  every  trade-union,  industrial 
union,  industrial  association,  or  employer  who,  not  being 
original  party  thereto,  is  at  any  time  whilst  the  award  is  in 
force  connected  with  or  engaged  in  the  industry  to  wliich 
the  award  applies  within  the  industrial  district  to  which  the 
award  relates."  The  court  may,  on  the  other  hand,  limit 
the  operation  of  an  award,  past  or  present,  to  any  city, 
town,  or  district  in  an  industrial  district,  and  it  may  after- 
ward extend  the  operation  within  the  district.  As  long  as 
any  award,  made  previous  to  or  after  the  passage  of  the  act, 
is  in  force,  the  court  may  amend  its  provisions  for  the 
purpose  of  remedying  any  defect  therein  or  of  giving  fuller 
effect  thereto ;  it  may  extend  the  award  to  include  "  any 
specified  trade-union,  industrial  union,  industrial  associa- 
tion, or  employer  in  the  colony  not  then  bound  thereby  or 
party  thereto,  but  connected  with  or  engaged  in  the  same 
industry  .  .  ,  provided  that  the  court  shall  not  act  under 
this  sub-section  except  when  the  award  relates  to  a  trade  or 
manufacture  the  products  of  which  enter  into  competition 
in  any  market  with  those  manufactured  in  another  indus- 
trial district,  and  a  majority  of  the  employers  engaged  and 
of  the  union  of  workers  concerned  in  the  trade  or  manufac- 
ture are  bound  by  the  award."  If  objection  is  made  by  an 
intended  party  to  such  an  extension,  the  court  shall  give  it 


378    LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES 

a  hearing  in  its  own  district.  The  award  binds  any  worker, 
not  a  member  of  a  union  embraced  in  its  view,  who  is 
employed  by  an  employer  on  whom  the  award  is  binding, 
and  he  is  liable  to  a  penalty  for  breach  of  such  award. 
These  powers  in  the  court,  of  amending  and  extending 
awards,  may  be  exercised  on  the  application  of  any  party 
bound  by  them. 

"  Proceedings  in  the  court  shall  not  be  impeached  or  held 
back  for  want  of  form,  nor  shall  the  same  be  removable  to 
any  court  by  certiorari  or  otherwise ;  and  no  award,  order, 
or  proceeding  of  the  court  shall  be  liable  to  be  challenged, 
appealed  against,  reviewed,  quashed,  or  called  in  question 
by  any  court  of  judicature  on  any  account  whatsoever.  .  .  . 
The  court  may  fix  and  determine  what  shall  constitute  a 
breach  of  the  award "  and  determine  the  maximum  pen- 
alty, not  exceeding  five  hundred  pounds  payable  by  any 
party.  "  In  its  award  or  by  order  made  .  .  .  whilst  the 
award  is  in  force,  the  court  may  prescribe  a  minimum  rate 
of  wages  or  other  remuneration,  with  special  provision  for 
a  lower  rate  being  fixed  in  the  case  of  any  worker  who  is 
unable  to  earn  the  prescribed  minimum."  "  In  so  far  as  the 
award  itself  imposes  a  penalty  or  costs  it  shall  be  deemed 
to  be  an  order  of  the  court.  ...  If  any  party  on  whom 
the  award  is  binding  commits  any  breach  thereof  by  act 
or  default  .  .  .  the  court  may  impose  such  penalty  as  it 
deems  just,  with  or  without  costs,  but  not  exceeding  five 
hundred  pounds."  A  certificate  in  prescribed  form,  "speci- 
fying the  amount  payable  and  the  respective  parties  or 
persons  by  and  to  whom  the  same  is  payable,  may  be  filed 
in  any  court  having  civil  jurisdiction  to  the  extent  of  such 
amount,  and  shall  thereupon  be  enforceable  in  all  respects 
as  a  final  judgment  of  the  court :  "  to  enforce  satisfaction, 
"  where  there  are  two  or  more  judgment  creditors,  .  .  . 
process  may  be  issued  separately  by  each  judgment  creditor 
against  the  property  of  his  judgment  debtor.  .  .  .  All  prop- 
erty belonging  to  the  judgment  debtor  (including  therein, 
in  the  case  of  a  trade-union,  or  an  industrial  union,  or 


m  NEW  ZEALAND  379 

industrial  association,  all  property  held  by  trustees  for  the 
judgment  debtor)  shall  be  available  in  or  towards  satisfac- 
tion of  the  judgment  debt,  and  if  the  judgment  debtor  is  a 
trade-union,  or  an  industrial  union,  or  an  industrial  associ- 
ation, and  its  property  is  insufficient  to  fully  satisfy  the 
judgment  debt,  its  members  shall  be  liable  for  the  defi- 
ciency," but  not  for  more  than  ten  pounds  each.  The  pro- 
visions for  enforcing  awards  or  orders  of  the  court  just 
recited  shall  apply  to  industrial  agreements  as  if  they  were 
awards  of  the  court. 

General  Provisions  as  to  Board  and  Court.  —  No  bank- 
rupt who  has  not  obtained  his  final  discharge,  no  person 
convicted  of  serious  crime,  or  of  unsound  mind,  or  an  alien, 
shall  be  qualified  to  serve  as  a  member.  No  dispute  shall 
be  referred  to  a  board,  nor  application  be  made  to  enforce 
any  industrial  agreement  or  award  or  order  of  the  court, 
unless  the  union  hold  a  special  meeting  at  which  a  resolu- 
tion to  this  effect  is  voted  by  a  majority  of  the  members ;  a 
similar  provision  applies  to  industrial  associations.  When 
a  dispute  has  been  referred  to  the  board,  until  it  "  has  been 
finally  disposed  of  by  the  board  or  the  court,  neither  the 
parties  to  the  dispute  nor  the  workers  affected  by  the  dis- 
pute shall,  on  account  of  the  dispute,  do  or  be  concerned  in 
doing,  directly  or  indirectly,  anything  in  the  nature  of  a 
strike  or  lockout,  or  of  a  suspension  or  discontinuance  of 
employment  or  work,  but  the  relationship  of  employer 
and  employed  shall  continue  uninterrupted  by  the  dispute 
or  anything  arising  out  of  the  dispute,  or  anything  prelimi- 
nary to  the  reference  of  the  dispute  and  connected  there- 
with. The  dismissal  of  any  worker,  or  the  discontinuance 
of  work  by  any  worker,  pending  the  final  disposition  of  an 
industrial  dispute,  shall  be  deemed  to  be  a  default,"  unless 
the  party  charged  with  such  default  satisfies  the  court  that 
the  action  taken  was  not  on  account  of  the  dispute.  The 
penalty  for  default  shall  not  exceed  fifty  pounds.  When- 
ever technical  questions  are  involved,  the  board  or  court 
may  direct  that  two  experts,  one  nominated  by  each  side, 


880     LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES 

shall  sit  as  experts  simply,  without  votes.  In  order  to  meet 
the  "  substantial  merits  and  equities  of  the  case  "  the  board 
or  court  may  direct  parties  to  be  joined  or  struck  out ; 
annul  or  waive  any  error  or  defect  in  the  proceedings  ; 
extend  the  time  within  which  anything  is  to  be  done  by  any 
party ;  and  generally  give  such  directions  as  are  deemed 
necessary  or  expedient  in  the  premises.  Persons  guilty  of 
"  any  wilful  contempt  in  the  face  of  the  board  or  court " 
may  be  summarily  dealt  with.  "  If  any  person  prints  or 
publishes  anything  calcidated  to  obstruct  or  in  any  way 
interfere  with  or  prejudicially  affect  any  matter  before  the 
board  or  court,  he  shall  for  every  such  offence  be  liable  to 
a  penalty  not  exceeding  fifty  pounds."  "  If,  without  good 
cause  shown,  any  party  to  proceedings  before  the  board  or 
court  fails  to  attend  or  be  represented,  the  board  or  court 
may  proceed  and  act  as  fully  in  the  matter  before  it  as  if 
such  party  had  duly  attended  or  been  represented."  "  In- 
formality or  error  of  form,  or  non-comphance  with  this 
act "  shall  not  vitiate  the  action  of  the  board  or  court. 
Their  proceedings  shall  be  conducted  during  the  day  or  at 
night,  and  openly ;  but  tlie  public  may  be  excluded  at  any 
stage.  The  board  or  the  court,  or  any  person  authorized, 
"  may  enter  upon  any  manufactory,  building,  workshop, 
factory,  mine,  mine-workings,  ship  or  vessel  shed,  place  or 
premises  of  any  kind  whatsoever,  wherein  or  in  respect  of 
which  any  industry  is  carried  on  or  any  work  is  being  or 
has  been  done  or  commenced,  or  any  matter  or  tiling  is 
taking  or  has  taken  place,  wliich  is  made  the  subject  of 
a  reference  ;  "  it  may  "  inspect  and  view  any  work,  mate- 
rial, machinery,  appliances,  article,  matter,  or  thing  whatso- 
ever "  found  there ;  it  may  interrogate  any  person  or  per- 
sons there  "  in  respect  of  or  in  relation  to  any  matter  or 
thing  hereinbefore  mentioned."  The  usual  penalty  of  the 
act  is  affixed  to  any  obstruction  in  this  direction. 

Special  provisions  are  made  in  respect  to  the  employees 
on  the  government  railways.  "  The  Amalgamated  Society 
of  Railway  Servants  shall  be  deemed  to  be  registered  under 


IN  NEW  ZEALAND  381 

the  act.  .  .  .  The  Minister  for  Railways  may  from  time  to 
time  enter  into  industrial  agreements  with  the  society  in 
like  manner  in  all  respects  as  if  the  management  of  the 
government  railways  were  an  industry,  and  he  were  the 
employer  of  all  workers  employed  therein."  The  society,  in 
case  of  a  dispute,  may  by  petition  "pray  the  court  to  hear 
and  determine  the  same."  The  proceedings  are  in  large  de- 
gree the  same  as  in  the  case  of  unofficial  employers,  but  in 
no  case  shall  a  board  have  any  jurisdiction,  nor  shall  the 
society  have  anything  to  do  with  the  election  of  a  board,  and 
"  except  for  the  purposes  of  this  section  the  court  shall  have 
no  jurisdiction  over  the  society."  The  society  may,  however, 
act  like  any  industrial  union  of  workers  in  regard  to  voting 
for  one  member  of  the  court. 

The  governor  has  power  under  the  act  to  prescribe  the 
fees  of  members  of  the  boards  and  the  court,  and  to  make 
all  minor  regulations  needed.  The  expenses  of  the  system 
of  arbitration  incurred  by  the  government  are  to  be  de- 
frayed out  of  annual  appropriations  made  by  Parliament. 
No  stamp  duty  is  required  on  documents  relating  in  any 
way  to  the  act. 

The  amending  act  of  1901  concludes  with  these  two  note- 
worthy sections  :  "  21.  Either  party  to  an  industrial  dispute 
which  has  been  referred  to  a  board  of  conciliation  may,  pre- 
vious to  the  hearing  of  such  dispute  by  the  board,  file  with 
the  clerk  an  application  in  writing  requiring  the  dispute  to 
be  referred  to  the  court  of  arbitration,  and  that  court  shall 
have  jurisdiction  "  thereupon  at  once.  "  24.  When  workers 
engaged  upon  different  trades  are  employed  in  any  one 
business  of  any  particular  employer,  the  court  may  make 
one  award  applicable  to  such  business,  and  embracing,  as 
the  court  may  think  fit,  the  whole  or  part  of  the  various 
branches  constituting  the  business  of  such  employer." 

The  New  Zealand  act  is,  from  first  to  last,  a  con- 
scious and  definite,  but  limited,  advance  of  the  law- 
making power  into  the  field  of  industry.    The  nature 


382    LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES 

of  tlie  steps  it  has  taken  in  the  direction  of  assimi- 
lating industrial  disputes  to  other  disputes  generally 
referred  to  the  courts  in  civilized  countries  will  per- 
haps appear  more  plainly  from  a  few  comments.  The 
first  point,  to  bring  employers  and  employed  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  act,  is  reached  by  providing 
for  their  registration  by  a  state  authority.  Any  two 
employers,  or  any  seven  "  workers,"  in  a  particular 
industry,  constituting  an  already  existing  society  or 
trade-union,  or  uniting  expressly  in  order  to  take 
advantage  of  this  act,  may  register  as  an  "  industrial 
union."  The  rules  of  this  union  must  look  to  the  for- 
mation of  "  industrial  agreements,"  or  collective  bar- 
gaining, and  to  representation  before  the  boards  or 
the  court  specially  instituted  by  this  act.  To  ensure 
a  certain  amount  of  permanence,  every  member  shall 
give  three  months'  notice  of  discontinuance  of  his 
membership,  and  he  cannot  withdraw  unless  his  ac- 
count with  the  union  stands  clear. 

Once  registered,  the  vuiion  comes  under  the  second 
important  provision  that  it  is  now  a  body  fully  incor- 
porated in  the  eyes  of  the  law,  hut  solely  for  the  pur- 
poses of  this  act.  It  is  henceforth  liable  to  discharge 
all  obhgations  laid  upon  it,  and  to  enjoy  aU  privileges 
granted  to  it,  by  this  act  and  no  other.  No  industrial 
union,  as  such,  therefore,  can  sue  or  be  sued  except 
so  far  as  this  one  act  provides.  The  act  incorporates 
these  unions  in  a  limited  degree  only,  but  this  pro- 
vision does  not  interfere  with  the  legal  privileges  or 
responsibilities,  under  the  common  law,  or  under  other 
statutes,  of  a  trade-ux\\ox\^  or  an  association  which  has 
not  registered  of  its  own  free  will.  The  vuiions  are 
now  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  boards  of  conciliation 


IN  NEW  ZEALAND  383 

and  the  court  of  arbitration,  and  cannot  escape  liability 
without  cancelling  their  registration.  There  is  no  com- 
pulsion about  registering,  and  no  forcible  detention  of 
the  union  under  the  law,  beyond  a  decent  period  re- 
quired to  give  notice  of  a  desire  to  withdraw.  The  act 
proceeds  to  give  privileges  to  the  industrial  union  in 
view  of  the  obligations  just  rehearsed.  It  can  hold  its 
members  legally  responsible  for  sums  of  money  due  it 
imder  its  votes  ;  it  can  dispose  of  real  estate  in  the 
usual  legal  manner,  suing  or  being  sued  like  other  in- 
corporated associations.  If  its  registration  is  cancelled, 
its  members,  as  a  body  and  as  individuals,  return  to 
their  former  condition  of  irresponsibility  before  the 
law. 

The  provisions  in  regard  to  "  related  trades  "  give 
the  desirable  power  to  a  union  to  adjust  itself  to  the 
general  field  to  which  its  special  activity  belongs,  as  in 
the  "  building  trades,"  so  called.  These  sections  of  the 
act  greatly  enlarge  the  privileges  of  unions  in  compar- 
ison with  the  limited  powers  they  first  enjoyed  in  their 
own  specific  industries.  The  justification  of  such  an 
extension  of  a  law  intended  in  time  to  cover  aU  the 
industries  of  the  country  is  obvious. 

The  method  in  the  mind  of  the  framers  of  the  act 
for  securing  permanent  industrial  peace  was  the  forma- 
tion of  "  industrial  agreements,"  i.  e.^  the  bargains  be- 
tween bodies  of  employers,  on  one  side,  and  bodies  of 
workers,  on  the  other  side,  of  which  this  volume  has 
had  so  much  to  say.  The  act  grants  this  privilege 
only  to  bodies  incorporated  under  it,  except  that  trade- 
unions  not  registered  as  industrial  unions  may  make 
such  agreements  ;  then,  of  course,  they  will  be  bound 
by  the  act  as  much  as  an  industrial  imion  would  be. 


384    LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES 

A  most  important  section  provides  tliat  an  industrial 
agreement,  which  cannot  be  valid  for  more  than  three 
years  as  its  first  term,  shall  continue  in  force  at  the 
end  of  the  period  in  the  absence  of  specific  action  to 
the  contrary.  The  effect  of  this  provision  is  to  relieve 
the  court  and  the  parties  to  the  agreement  from  much 
unnecessary  trouble  in  case  the  conditions  have  not 
been  essentially  changed  ;  the  agreement  may  also  be 
made  the  basis  of  changes  by  the  parties ;  it  may  be 
expressly  renewed,  or  cancelled,  at  their  joint  pleasure. 
But,  while  in  legal  existence,  it  absolutely  binds  all 
parties  to  it,  and  every  single  member  of  the  unions, 
with  a  complete  legal  subjection.  Thus  is  law  made 
supreme  over  this  realm  of  industrial  disputes,  pre- 
viously lawless  in  such  large  degree,  when  the  parties 
have  freely  come  under  its  jurisdiction.  "  If  only 
law  can  give  us  freedom,"  as  Burke  said,  then  both 
parties  are  really  more  free  than  before.  If  they  fight 
each  other  now,  it  must  be  in  courts,  under  laws  of 
civilized  warfare  prescribed  by  a  power  able  to  en- 
force them  ! 

Now  comes  the  machinery  which  brings  together 
these  bodies  of  employers  and  of  workers,  duly  incor- 
porated, to  adjust  their  disputes  in  a  calm  and  rational 
manner,  instead  of  resorting  to  the  usual  irrationalities 
or  violence  of  the  strike  and  the  lockout.  The  board 
of  conciliation  for  the  district  is  the  first  body  directly 
charged  with  this  legal  adjustment.  Made  up  of  re- 
presentatives of  employers  and  of  employed  in  equal 
numbers,  and  a  chairman  chosen  by  these  members, 
this  board  does  not  monopolize  the  field,  as  a  special 
board  may  be  chosen  to  take  its  place,  with  the  same 
general  powers.    The  conciliation  board  does  not  have 


IN  NEW  ZEALAND  385 

power  to  act  on  its  own  initiative  ;  in  other  words,  it 
has  no  right  to  compel  both  parties  to  appear  before 
it.  But  if  one  party  to  a  dispute  wishes  to  refer  it  to 
the  board,  then  the  other  party  is  compelled  to  appear. 
Here  is  the  first  appearance  of  compulsion  in  the  mat- 
ter. It  is  a  logical  step,  if  the  state  is  to  provide  even 
rudimentary  justice  in  this  industrial  field.  In  every 
other  field  covered  by  law  a  plaintiff  can  bring  a  de- 
fendant into  court  if  his  complaint  is  covered  by  a  law 
generally  binding. 

The  parties  having  presented  themselves,  the  board 
proceeds  to  its  peculiar  business,  trying  to  get  the 
parties  themselves  in  the  first  place  to  agree  with 
each  other  on  their  relations  for  the  near  future.  It 
excludes  persons  who  make  a  profit  from  the  profes- 
sional conduct  of  litigation.  Having  all  the  powers 
of  investigation  possessed  by  the  court  of  arbitration, 
except  to  order  the  production  of  books,  it  must  seek 
as  informally  as  possible  to  reconcile  the  two  dispu- 
tants. Large  discretion  is  given  to  it  in  the  choice  of 
means  "  to  a  fair  and  amicable  settlement." 

If  the  parties  are  persuaded  to  come  together  in 
this  peaceful  atmosphere,  they  make  an  industrial 
agreement,  and  their  controversy  ends  with  a  good 
prospect  for  the  continuance  of  peace.  If  the  parties 
do  not  come  to  an  agreement,  then  the  board  goes  on 
to  make  its  recommendations  in  as  untechnical  a  man- 
ner as  may  be,  stating  the  kind  of  an  industrial  agree- 
ment that  ought  to  be  arranged.  If  both  parties  agree 
to  abide  by  the  recommendation  of  the  board,  before 
or  after  it  is  made,  it  stands  with  the  full  force  of  an 
industrial  agreement  between  them,  with  such  modi- 
fications as  both   parties   have   accepted.    If,  on  the 


386     LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES 

other  hand,  either  party  refuses  to  accept  the  board's 
recommendations,  it  can  refer  the  dispute  to  the  court 
of  arbitration  for  the  whole  country  ;  in  the  absence 
of  such  an  express  reference,  the  recommendation  is 
valid. 

Thus  far,  then,  the  New  Zealand  law  has  but  one 
feature  of  compulsion,  in  that  one  party  can  compel 
the  other  to  appear  before  a  board  with  large  powers 
to  investigate.  When  before  the  board,  every  effort 
is  made  to  induce  them  to  settle  the  dispute  themselves. 
The  only  escape  of  the  dissenting  party  is  to  a  court 
whose  verdict  he  must  accept,  from  the  very  fact  of 
his  appeal  to  it.  The  more  complete  statement  of  the 
matter  of  compulsion  is,  therefore,  that  one  party  to 
a  dispute  can  force  the  other  into  the  path  of  a  legal 
settlement,  whether  that  path  ends  with  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  conciliation  board,  or  goes  On  to  the 
award  of  the  court  of  arbitration.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
most  cases  taken  before  the  New  Zealand  boards  go 
on  to  the  court  for  final  adjustment. 

The  president  of  the  court  bemg  a  judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  colony,  it  has  the  desirable 
dignity  of  a  court  of  last  resort ;  and  the  presence  on 
it  of  representatives  of  both  parties  to  the  labor  con- 
tract gives  it  a  pecidiar  character,  fitted  to  encourage 
confidence  in  the  substantial  justice  of  its  decisions. 
It  is,  in  fact,  a  combination  of  the  legislative  and  the 
judicial  elements  of  government  in  a  novel  way.  The 
great  power  of  the  court  over  procedure  and  evidence 
must  command  general  respect.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
authoritative  courts  of  the  time.  The  award  may  pro- 
vide, as  we  have  seen,  for  an  alternative  course  to  be 
followed  by  the  parties,  and  it  extends  to  the  entire 


IN  NEW  ZEALAND  387 

industry  with  wliicli  the  parties  are  connected,  in  the 
district  to  which  the  award  relates.  The  court  has 
power  to  limit  the  award,  in  this  district,  for  good 
reason,  with  the  ability  to  extend  its  application  later, 
all  in  the  interest  of  equity.  In  case  of  an  award  re- 
lating to  a  business  in  any  district  which  has  to  com- 
pete with  another  district,  and  including  a  majority 
of  the  employers  and  workers  in  the  trade,  the  court 
has  the  extraordinary  power  of  extending  its  award  over 
the  entire  country,  so  far  as  the  industry  in  question 
is  concerned.  Such  an  award  binds  every  worker  in 
the  industry,  whether  a  member  of  a  union  or  not, 
if  his  employer  is  bound. 

The  Court  of  Arbitration  is  supreme  and  final  in  all 
matters  on  which  it  passes,  and  it  is  the  sole  judge 
of  the  formality  of  its  own  procedure.  Its  power  to 
fix  the  minimum  wage  in  its  award  to  rule  throughout 
the  trade,  has  great  significance,  as  it  thus  places  all 
competitors  in  the  industry  on  the  same  level.  Its 
ability  to  enforce  its  awards  through  courts  of  civil 
jurisdiction  is  apparently  complete.  The  court's  award 
stands  on  a  level  with  the  industrial  agreements  made 
at  its  instigation,  both  being  considered  as  decrees  of 
court. 

The  board  and  the  court  have  the  whole  matter  in 
charge,  it  is  assumed,  when  a  dispute  is  referred  to 
either.  It  follows  naturally  that  both  parties  shaU 
keep  on  as  they  were  before  the  dispute  began  ;  so 
work  continues  without  interruption  ;  and  there  is  no 
disturbance  whatever  of  the  ordinary  course  of  indus- 
try or  of  the  public  peace.  Ample  provision  is  made 
for  the  full  enforcement  of  the  spirit,  as  well  as  of  the 
letter,  of  this  part  of  the  law.    Other  general  pro\a- 


388     LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES 

sions  relating  to  both  bodies  —  sucli  as  those  in  regard 
to  the  employment  of  experts,  contempt  of  court, 
pubKcity,  and  visiting  the  premises  of  an  industry  — 
are  calculated  to  confirm  the  dignity  of  the  judicial 
office  in  the  eyes  of  the  public,  to  round  out  its  power, 
and  to  ensure  the  due  carriage  of  justice  without  de- 
feat by  technicality  or  informality.  One  who  studies 
these  forty  octavo  pages  of  legislation  cannot  fail  to 
be  impressed  by  the  thoroughness  with  which  the  New 
Zealand  Parliament  has  fashioned  its  law  with  the  one 
purpose  of  securing  as  just  an  award  as  can  be  ex- 
pected from  any  ti'ibunal  in  which  both  parties  to  the 
dispute  are  represented,  and  the  balance  of  power  be- 
tween them  is  held  by  the  most  disinterested  person 
to  be  found  as  the  representative  of  the  public,  i.  e.,  a 
judge  of  the  Supreme  Court. 

The  testimony  in  regard  to  the  operation  of  the  New 
Zealand  system  of  conciliation  and  arbitration  that 
will  have  most  weight  with  the  judicious  is  undoubt- 
edly that  of  the  very  competent  foreign  observers 
who  have  visited  the  country  in  the  last  five  years. 
The  list  includes  MM.  Albert  Metin  and  Andre 
Siegfried,  of  France  ;  Mr.  Henry  D.  Lloyd  and 
Mr.  Victor  S.  Clark,  of  America ;  Judge  A.  P. 
Backhouse,  of  New  South  Wales,  and  the  Victoria 
Royal  Commission  of  1902-3.  Mr.  Lloyd's  account  in 
"  A  Country  without  Strikes  "  is  probably  the  best 
known  of  these  accounts,  as  it  is  the  most  eulo- 
gistic. Judge  Backhouse's  report  has  been  generally 
"  acclaimed  "  by  friends  and  opponents  of  the  system 
as  the  most  judicial  treatment  of  the  subject  yet 
made.  M.  Metin's  is  the  least  pronounced  utterance  ; 
M.  Siegfried's  is  the  most  critical.    Mr.  Clark's  report 


IN  NEW  ZEALAND  389 

Is  the  most  recent,  and  one  of  the  best ;  the  Victoria 
Commission's  is  sympathetic,  but  not  blindly  eulo- 
gistic. 

M.  Metinisaidin  1899:  — 

"  Thus  far  the  effects  of  ofl&cial  conciliation  have  been  to 
prevent  strikes  and  lockouts,  and  above  all,  to  create  a  new 
jurisprudence,  interpreting  the  old  laws,  or  boldly  inno- 
vating in  favor  of  the  trade-unions.  We  cannot  insist  too 
strongly  upon  the  importance  of  this  result"  (p.  168). 
"  We  may  say,  then,  that  the  boards  and  the  court  not  only 
do  a  work  of  conciliation  and  arbitration,  but,  in  addition, 
take  inspiration  from  the  first  part  of  the  (original)  title  of 
the  law,  in  order  to  favor  the  development  of  industrial 
unions,  and  that  this  development  through  the  very  force 
of  things  is  more  favorable  to  the  unions  of  workers  than 
to  those  of  employers.  .  .  .  The  New  Zealand  law,  like  all 
laws  on  official  conciliation,  puts  a  premium  on  the  organiza- 
tion of  workers,  and  the  premium  is  more  advantageous  than 
in  any  other  country  "  (pp.  171, 172).  "  The  intervention  of 
the  boards  in  matters  of  wages  has  been  very  well  received 
by  all  the  organizations  of  workers.  In  the  two  most  im- 
portant, the  Trades  Halls  of  Christchurch  and  Diinedin,  .  .  . 
all  agreed  in  finding  an  official  decision,  obligatory  for  one 
or  two  years,  more  advantageous  to  the  workman  than  a 
private  contract  without  sure  guarantees"  (pp.  174,  175). 
M.  M^tin  declares  (p.  176)  that  "  all  the  employers  are 
against  the  compulsory  law  of  conciliation  and  arbitration. 
.  .  .  The  employers'  associations  have  for  their  principal  end 
protestation  against  the  law  and  its  interpretation.  .  .  . 
Thanks,  beyond  a  doubt,  to  tlie  almost  })rohibitory  duties, 
New  Zealand  manufacture  has  steadily  developed  since  the 

^  Now  a  professor  in  the  Parisian  Municipal  School  Lavoisier.  He 
was  in  Australasia  from  the  last  of  April  to  the  first  of  October,  1899. 
On  his  return  he  published  a  volume,  the  title  of  which  neatly  indi- 
cates the  author's  estimate  of  Australasian  legislation,  Le  Socialisme 
sans  Doctrines. 


390     LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES 

law  was  passed.  In  any  case  it  does  not  cease  to  advance  " 
(p.  177).  In  reviewing  Australasian  experience  in  concili- 
ation as  a  whole,  M.  M^tin  learns  three  lessons  :  "  That  state 
conciliation  and  arbitration  have  no  efficacy  so  far  as  they 
are  not  compulsory  ;  that  the  employers  are  everywhere 
opposed  to  official  conciliation,  although  many  of  them  ad- 
mit private  conciliation  ;  and  that  the  workmen  are  favor- 
able to  official  conciliation  in  New  Zealand  only  "  (p.  178).^ 
"  It  seems  certain  that  the  workmen  of  New  Zealand,  in 
accepting  the  law  with  so  much  favor,  have,  most  of  all, 
thought  of  the  encouragement  which  it  gives  to  the  in- 
dustrial union.  What  they  have  seen  in  the  law  is  less 
compulsory  conciUation  and  arbitration  than  the  means  of 
rendering  almost  compulsory,  first,  the  trade-union  ;  second, 
the  collective  bargain  between  employer  and  union  in  place 
of  the  individual  bargain  between  the  employer  and  the 
individual  workman ;  tliird,  the  introduction,  for  one  or 
two  years  in  this  contract,  of  the  custom  of  the  trade, 
i.  e.,  of  advantages  persistently  claimed  by  the  unions  and 
granted  sometimes  by  the  employers  in  exceptional  and 
transitory  conditions ;  fourth,  the  minimum  wage,  and  the 
repression  of  the  sweating  system  "  (pp.  179, 180). 

M.  Andre  Siegfried  ^  is  not  a  believer  in  the  New 
Zealand  arbitration  law,  but,  like  other  visitors,  he 
speaks,  in  1900,  of  strikes  as  practically  "  unknown 
there  since  1894.  .  .  .  The  impartiality  and  good  faith 
of  the  judges  have  never  been  doubted." 

^  The  recent  passage  of  acts  modelled  upon  that  of  New  Zealand 
by  New  South  Wales  and  West  Australia  shows  that  the  sentiment 
of  workmen  in  these  two  countries  has  changed  from  observation  of 
the  workings  of  the  system  in  New  Zealand. 

-  M.  Siegfried,  a  son  of  the  distinguished  French  senator,  M.  Jules 
Siegfried,  visited  New  Zealand  in  1899,  and  early  in  1900  published  in 
the  Revue  Politique  et  Parlementaire  an  EnquHe  politique,  iconomique  et 
sociale  on  the  country,  of  which  Mr.  Reeves  says,  "  For  a  strong  yet 
good-tempered  criticism  of  the  Progressive  Movement  in  New  Zealand 
nothing  yet  written  comes  up  to  M.  Siegfried's  series  of  criticisms." 


IN  NEW  ZEALAND  391 

The  six  paragraphs  that  follow  are  taken  from 
Judge  A.  P.  Backhouse's  judicial  report  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  New  South  Wales.^ 

Generally  the  greatest  satisfaction  is  expressed  with  the 
constitution  of  the  Court  of  Arbitration,  its  proceedings, 
and  its  decisions.  Some  of  its  awards  in  certain  particulars 
are  found  fault  with  ;  but  this  is  ascribed  to  insufficient 
information  before  it,  and  not  in  any  way  to  the  court's 
failing  to  appreciate  or  not  endeavouring  to  solve  the  diffi- 
cult questions  put  to  it.  Its  work  fully  bore  out  the  expecta- 
tions one  would  have  of  a  tribunal  presided  over  by  a  judge 
of  the  colony's  highest  court. 

Undoubtedly  differences  have  increased,  and  it  stands 
to  reason  that  in  the  ordinary  course  of  things  they  would, 
when  means  are  provided  for  dealing  with  disputes  other 
than  the  extreme  step  of  "  striking  "  or  "  locking-out." 

One  of  the  things  which  struck  me  was  the  excellent  rela- 
tions which  existed  between  employers  and  employees.  I 
noticed  this  in  the  proceedings  which  I  witnessed  before  a 
conciliation  board  and  in  the  arbitration  court ;  there  the 
contending  parties,  although  they  were  fighting  their  very 
hardest,  appeared  to  be  on  excellent  terms. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  point  out  that  the  act  makes  no 
attempt  to  insist  on  an  employer's  cariying  on  his  business, 
or  on  a  man's  working  under  a  condition  which  he  objects 
to.  All  it  says  is  that  where  a  board  or  the  court  has  inter- 
fered, the  business,  if  carried  on  at  all,  shall  be  carried  on 
in  the  manner  prescribed  ;  if  the  workman  works,  he  shall 
work  under  the  conditions  laid  down.  There  is  nothing  to 
prevent  a  strike  in  detail ;  nothing  which  will  preclude  a 
man  from  asking  for  his  time  and  leaving. 

Although  I  have  gone  fully  into  matters  in  which  the  act 
appears  to  be  defective,  I  wish  it  to  be  clearly  and  unmis- 

^  Judg'e  Backhouse  is  a  district  court  judge  of  New  South  Wales. 
He  spent  some  seven  weeks  in  New  Zealand  in  1901,  conducting  an 
active  investigation. 


392     LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES 

takably  known  that  the  result  of  my  observations  is  that 
the  act  has  so  far,  notwithstanding  its  faults,  been  produc- 
tive of  good.  I  have  emphasized  what  were  pointed  out  to 
me  as  its  weaknesses,  in  order  that  they  may  be  avoided 
should  similar  legislation  be  enacted  here.  The  act  has 
prevented  strikes  of  any  magnitude,  and  has,  on  the  whole, 
brought  about  a  better  relation  between  employers  and 
employees  than  would  exist  if  there  were  no  act.  It  has 
enabled  the  increase  of  wages  and  the  other  conditions 
favorable  to  the  workmen  which,  under  the  circumstances 
of  the  colony,  they  are  entitled  to,  to  be  settled  without 
that  friction  and  bitterness  of  feeling  which  otherwise  might 
have  existed ;  it  has  enabled  emjjloyers,  for  a  time  at  least, 
to  know  with  certainty  the  conditions  of  production,  and 
therefore  to  make  contracts  with  the  knowledge  that  they 
would  be  able  to  fulfil  them ;  and  indirectly  it  has  tended 
to  a  more  harmonious  feeling  among  the  people  generally, 
which  must  have  worked  for  the  weal  of  the  colony. 

The  able  Victorian  Commission  of  1902-3  on  the 
Factories  and  Shops  Law  journeyed  through  New 
Zealand  in  1902.  This  passage  is  taken  from  pages 
xxiii,  xxiv  of  its  Report :  — 

Despite  certain  defects  in  detail,  which  have  been  re- 
vealed by  experience,  the  New  Zealand  Conciliation  and 
Arbitration  Acts  remain  to-day  the  fairest,  the  most  com- 
plete, and  the  most  useful  labour  law  on  the  statute-books 
of  the  Australasian  states.  And  it  is,  on  the  whole,  a  wise 
social  law,  on  the  one  hand  protecting  the  fair-minded 
employer  from  the  dishonest  competition  of  the  sweater, 
who  keeps  down  the  cost  of  production  by  paying  misera- 
bly low  wages,  and,  on  the  other,  the  toiling  thousands, 
to  whom  a  rise  in  wages  of  a  few  shillings  a  week  when 
an  industry  can  fairly  bear  it,  often  means  the  diffei-ence 
between  griping  poverty  and  comparative  comfort.  But, 
beyond  that,  it  has  the  great  merit  of  providing  effective 
means  for  preserving  unimpaired  the  industrial  relationship 


IN  NEW  ZEALAND  393 

of  employer  and  worker,  in  forbidding  the  miserable  war- 
fare which  displays  itself  in  strikes  and  lockouts,  and  the 
stern  reprisals  which  too  often  accompany  them,  while 
ample  opportunity  is  given  for  conciliatory  methods  of  set- 
tling disputes  before  compulsion  is  invoked. 

The  law  may  fairly  be  said  to  have  passed  successfully 
through  its  period  of  probation.  Its  main  principles  have 
stood  the  test  of  time,  and  while  employers  and  workers 
alike  keenly  criticise  each  other's  actions  in  connection  with 
its  operation  in  certain  industrial  centres,  in  no  part  of  the 
colony  which  we  visited  did  we  hear  any  general  desire 
expressed  for  its  repeal.  Many  suggestions  were,  indeed, 
made  for  minor  alterations,  but  they  were  put  forward  with 
the  view  of  improving  the  general  administration  of  the 
act,  wliile  preserving  its  main  principles  in  their  integrity. 

From  the  comprehensive  report  of  Victor  S.  Clark, 
Ph.  D.,  to  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Labor  on 
"Labor  Conditions  in  New  Zealand"  ("Bulletin," 
No.  49),  I  borrow  the  following  matter :  ^  — 

The  industrial  conciliation  and  arbitration  act  of  New 
Zealand  has  proved  in  operation  an  exceedingly  powerful 
and  comprehensive  instrument  for  submitting  private  in- 
dustry to  public  regulation  and  control.  That  in  this  respect 
the  law  has  passed  far  beyond  the  original  intent  and  antici- 
pation of  its  founders  is  hardly  to  be  questioned  ("  Bulle- 
tin," p.  1227). 

While  it  is  neither  candid  nor  literally  true  to  call  New 
Zealand  a  land  without  strikes,  no  serious  labor  disturbances 
of  this  character  have  arisen  since  the  arbitration  law  went 
into  effect  (p.  1227). 

The  true  statement  of  the  case  is  that,  while  there  have 
been  difficulties  of  this  character,  they  have  been  as  a  rule 
exceedingly  unimportant ;  they  have  not  occurred  among 

^  Mr.  Clark  was  in  New  Zealaml  for  some  months  in  190o ;  he  is 
an  expert  investigator,  who  has  had  experience  in  Porto  Rico,  Cuba, 
and  Hawaii. 


394     LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES 

workers  directly  subject  to  the  act,  and  with  the  extension 
of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court  through  amendments  to  the 
law  to  cover  allied  industries  and  the  increasing  number  of 
awards  and  the  growth  of  organization  among  the  workers, 
such  troubles  as  have  occurred  are  becoming  more  and 
more  rare  (p.  1228). 

A  second  desirable  result  that  the  act  is  generally  con- 
ceded to  have  accomjjlished  is  the  prevention  of  sweating 
and  undercutting  by  a  few  unscrupulous  employers,  to  the 
detriment  of  the  trade  and  the  prejudice  of  the  fair-minded 
majority  who  are  content  to  conduct  their  business  with 
reasonable  regard  for  the  welfare  of  their  employees  (p. 
1231). 

It  would  seem  to  an  observer  coming  from  outside  the 
colony  that  the  effect  of  the  arbitration  law  upon  industrial 
development  and  general  business  prosperity  had  been  very 
greatly  exaggerated  by  both  its  advocates  and  its  opponents 
(p.  1235). 

Opinion,  therefore,  is  evidently  divided,  but  workingmen 
as  a  class  are  in  favor  of,  and  employers  as  a  class  are 
opposed  to,  the  present  arbitration  law  (p.  1248). 

StiU,  it  is  doubtful  if  there  is  an  employer  of  importance 
in  New  Zealand  who  would  return  voluntarily  to  the  sys- 
tem of  strikes.  They  would  amend  and  modify,  probably 
entirely  remodel,  the  present  legislation,  but  they  would 
retain  in  some  form  or  other  its  essential  principle.  Public 
opinion  in  the  colony  has  been  cultivated  into  a  position 
where  it  would  hardly  tolerate  again  a  free  fight  between 
employers  and  employees.  This  feeling  was  voiced  by  a 
man  of  much  local  prominence,  an  employer  of  a  large 
amount  of  labor  under  the  act,  and  one  of  the  most  intel- 
ligent and  consistently  logical  and  dispassionate  opponents 
of  the  present  labor  legislation  met  in  the  colony.  At  the 
close  of  the  conversation  he  was  asked :  "  Would  you 
repeal  the  present  laws  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  strikes 
the  only  ultimate  method  of  settling  industrial  disputes  ?  " 
He  thought  a  moment,  and  then  replied :  "I  was  in  Chi- 


IN  NEW  ZEALAND  395 

cago  recently,  when  your  building  trades  were  on  a  strike. 
I  saw  armed  men  standing  at  the  corners  o£  your  new 
Federal  Building,  there  to  protect  the  workmen  from  the 
strikers.  No,  I  don't  want  to  see  a  change  of  our  laws 
that  will  permit  of  such  conditions  here  "  (p.  1248). 

The  law  has  not  been  a  failure,  though  many  inconve- 
niences have  been  experienced  from  its  workings.  It  has 
accustomed  the  community  to  the  idea  of  making  law  su- 
preme in  industrial  disputes,  and  this  is  an  idea  that  wiU 
not  easily  disappear.  With  all  its  apparent  defects  the  act 
is  a  success  beyond  the  expectation  of  many  of  its  early 
supporters.  Practical  legislators  have  considered  it  worth 
transplanting,  with  modifications  not  impairing  its  essential 
principle,  to  several  of  the  states  of  the  Australian  com- 
monwealth. There,  meeting  new  conditions,  many  of  them 
more  similar  to  our  own  than  those  prevailing  in  New  Zea- 
land, the  law  is  almost  certain  to  be  still  further  modified 
in  practical  application,  and  still  more  completely  adapted 
to  the  diverse  conditions  of  modern  industrial  life.  One 
concludes  an  investigation  with  this  conviction :  that  a  line 
of  legislation  has  been  started  in  New  Zealand  to  remedy 
one  of  our  greatest  industrial  evils  that  will  in  all  probability 
continue  to  expand  and  develop  from  its  present  tentative 
and  experimental  condition  until  it  has  solved,  or  greatly 
contributed  toward  solving,  so  far  as  the  collective  will  of 
society  can,  the  problem  that  brought  it  forth  (p.  1255). 

But  few  words  need  be  devoted  to  the  criticisms 
usually  passed  upon  the  New  Zealand  experience  in 
legal  regulation  of  labor  disputes.  The  reports  of  Judge 
Backhouse,  MM.  Metin  and  Siegfried,  Mr.  Clark,  and 
the  Victorian  Commission  embody  nearly  all  the  criti- 
cism that  deserves  serious  attention.  The  lavr  is  not 
perfect,  and  it  will  probably  be  amended  in  the  future, 
as  it  has  been  in  the  past ;  the  provisions  for  concili- 
ation, in  particular,  need  amendment.    But  the  great 


396     LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR   DISPUTES 

weight  of  competent  and  disinterested  testimony  as 
to  the  working  of  the  law  is  on  the  favorable  side.^ 
The  outstanding  fact  is  plain :  the  New  Zealand  sys- 
tem of  conciliation  and  arbitration  has  been  a  great 
success  for  eight  years.  It  would  be  difficult  to  name 
a  modern  reform  now  in  course  of  operation,  which  can 
command  a  body  of  testimony  to  this  effect  of  equal 
weight,  declaring  the  singular  good  fortune  that  New 
Zealand  has  enjoyed  in  the  last  eight  years,  in  its  free- 
dom from  strikes  and  lockouts,  and  preponderantly 
approving  the  system. 

All  these  observers  of  the  phenomenon  point  out  the 
mistake  that  would  be  committed  in  judging  it  finally 
from  good  times  alone.  New  Zealand,  along  with  its 
conciliation  and  arbitration  act,  has  had  an  unbroken 
period  of  great  industrial  prosperity.  State  regula- 
tion of  labor  disputes  has  at  least  not  been  powerful  to 
prevent,  however  much  or  however  little  it  may  have 
caused,  this  state  of  things.  In  these  years  the  large 
majorit}^  of  applications  to  the  boards  and  the  court 
have  come  from  the  workers,  demanding  higher  wages 
or  some  improvement  in  the  conditions  of  their  in- 
dustry. As  a  rule,  the  awards  have  been  favorable 
to  them,  and  the  friendly  feeling  of  the  workingmen 

^  The  majority  of  the  objections  now  made  are  trifling'  in  their 
character,  or  the  result  of  misunderstanding  or  ignorance.  Others  of  a 
more  important  character  proceed  from  persons  like  Mr.  John  Mac- 
Gregor  and  Mr.  F.  G.  Ewington,  who  seem  to  be  political  partisans  or 
determined  advocates  of  a  theory  thoroughly  hostile  to  "  state  interfer- 
ence," rather  than  candid  students  of  things  as  they  are.  Mr.  Reeves, 
as  the  author  of  the  New  Zealand  act,  may  naturally  be  suspected  of 
partiality  for  the  work  of  his  own  hands  ;  but  no  candid  reader  of  his 
two  recent  volumes  on  State  Experiments  in  Australia  and  New  Zea- 
land can  put  them  down  without  a  feeling  of  admiration  for  his  talent 
and  his  candor. 


IN  NEW  ZEALAND  397 

toward  the  act  is  not  surprising.  The  really  surprising 
phenomenon  is  the  gradual  conversion  of  the  employ- 
ers from  their  formerly  general  opposition  to  the  law. 
As  to  the  thoroughness  of  this  conversion  various  ob- 
servers differ  ;  but  as  to  the  reality  of  a  strong  tendency 
in  that  direction,  there  is  no  reasonable  doubt.  The 
employers  are  probably  undergoing  conversion  as  rap- 
idly as  could  well  be  expected  in  the  case  of  so  novel 
a  law.  The  other  directly  interested  party  (the  work- 
ers) is  cordial  in  its  endorsement  of  the  act.  The  New 
Zealand  public  enjoys  a  happy  freedom  from  labor 
troubles. 

A  question  of  prime  interest  is,  What  will  the  work- 
ingman  say  and  do  when  hard  times  come  again,  as 
come  again  they  must,  however  long  deferred  their 
coming,  and  the  court  of  arbitration  grants  the  em- 
ployers reductions  in  wages  and  other  concessions  ? 
Will  the  workingmen  then  make  trouble,  cancel  their 
registration  as  "  industrial  unions,"  and  agitate  for  a 
repeal  of  the  law  ?  No  one  has  a  right  to  speak  dog- 
matically on  this  point,  least  of  all  any  one  outside  of 
New  Zealand.  But  several  considerations  encourage 
belief  in  the  good  sense  of  the  New  Zealand  artisan  in 
time  of  adversity.  The  longer  prosperity  continues, 
the  less  will  be  the  probability  of  trouble  arising  from 
the  labor  side  in  hard  times,  after  it  has  enjoyed  a 
long  and  uninterrupted  period  of  favor  from  the  arbi- 
tration court  and  the  conciliation  boards.  There  seems 
to  be  no  good  reason  for  fearing  an  early  occurrence 
of  a  crisis.  The  system  which  has  now  had  eight  years 
of  continuous  success  woiUd  be  all  the  stronsrer  for 
several  years  more  of  similar  prosperity.  In  such  a 
period  the  employers  woidd  probably  discontinue  most 


398     LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES 

of  their  opposition.  Then  there  would  come,  it  may 
be,  several  years  in  which  the  strain  of  accepting  un- 
favorable awards  from  the  court  would  fall  upon  the 
workers.  I  prophesy  with  diffidence  ;  but  I  firmly  be- 
lieve that  the  distribution  of  good  sense  and  fairness 
of  mind  among  intelligent  English-speaking  men  is 
tolerably  uniform  in  the  employing  and  the  working 
classes,  and,  so  believing,  I  anticipate  that  the  present 
friendly  attitude  of  the  workers  toward  the  law  will  be 
paralleled  by  the  attitude  of  employers,  and  that  there 
will  be  a  substantial  acceptance  of  the  system  by  the 
workers  when  in  turn  it  operates  mainly  against  them. 
It  must  be  remembered  in  any  such  prognostications, 
that  times  of  adversity  mean  lower  wages  for  the  arti- 
san and  the  mechanic  in  any  case.  The  important 
matter  is  that  they  shall  be  convinced,  by  authorities 
in  whom  they  have  confidence,  that  the  reduction  is 
reasonable  under  the  adverse  conditions  of  industry. 
The  authorities  who  will  hereafter  reduce  wages  in  New 
Zealand  will  not  be  the  employers,  but,  for  the  first  time, 
the  court,  the  same  power  that  has  been  raising  wages 
steadily  for  some  ten  years,  say,  if  not  longer.  Such 
authorities  the  workers  will  probably  trust  and  accept, 
rather  than  seek  the  harsh  and  irrational  arbitrament 
of  the  strike.  Ten  years  altogether  of  education  in 
good  times  will  surely  not  be  without  great  effect  upon 
workers  who  must  face  the  facts  of  bad  times,  many 
applications  to  the  court  from  employers  for  a  reduc- 
tion of  wages,  and  numerous  adverse  awards  by  a  court 
which  they  have  been  admiring.  The  popidation  of 
New  Zealand  is  95  per  cent.  English  ;  free  education 
is  universal  and  intelligence  is  general.  Under  these 
favorable  auspices  it  seems  more  probable  that  legal 


IN  NEW  ZEALAND  399 

regulation  will  still  be  a  success  when  hard  times  pre- 
vail, than  that  it  will  go  down  before  the  unreason  of  the 
workingman  possessed  by  a  policy  of  "  Heads,  I  win ; 
tails,  you  lose."  It  is  sufficiently  evident  that  the  work- 
ing classes  of  New  Zealand  have  the  fortunes  of  the 
act  in  their  hands.  If,  when  fortune  turns,  they  yield 
as  gracefully  as  possible  to  the  pressure  which  the  em- 
ployer, the  court,  and  public  opinion  join  in  bringing 
to  bear  upon  them  to  accept  adverse  awards,  they  will 
confinn  the  wisdom  of  the  policy  of  state  control  of 
labor  relations,  establish  It  deeply  at  home,  and  help 
powerfully  to  Introduce  It  abroad.  But  If  they  adopt 
the  line  of  unreason  and  blind  resistance,  the  law  may 
be  repealed  and  their  last  state  be  worse  than  their 
first,  before  legal  regulation  came  In.  But  as  Judge 
Backliouse  has  said  :  "  Whatever  may  be  the  result, 
the  world  owes  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  New  Zealand  for 
having  undertaken  the  task  of  demonstrating  whether 
it  Is  possible  or  not  to  settle  Industrial  troubles  by 
compulsory  arbitration."  ^ 

^  West  Australia  adopted  an  act  similar  to  the  New  Zealand  Con- 
ciliation and  Arbitration  Act,  in  December,  1900.  New  South  Wales 
passed  a  bill  toward  the  end  of  1901,  which  provided  for  an  Arbitra- 
tion Court  only,  omitting  boards  of  conciliation.  The  registrar  can 
bring  both  parties  to  a  labor  dispute  before  the  Arbitration  Court  on 
his  own  motion.  The  act  thus  goes  a  step  farther  than  New  Zealand 
in  legal  regulation.  In  1902,  112  employers'  associations  were  re- 
gistered under  this  law  and  98  unions  of  employees,  numbering  over 
50,000  workers.  Victoria  and  South  Australia  have  wages  boards 
■which  go  a  long  way  toward  the  New  Zealand  system  ;  and  the  Vic- 
toria Royal  Commission  of  1002  on  the  Factories  and  Shops  Law  re- 
commended the  formation  of  courts  of  conciliation  and  an  arbitration 
court.  A  hill  applying  legal  regulation  to  the  whole  Australian  com- 
monwealth is  pending  in  the  Parliament. 


In  addition  to  the  works  already  named  in  this  chapter  the  follow- 
ing may  be  consulted  with  profit :   Mr.  Reeves'  The  Long  White  Cloud 


400     LEGAL  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  DISPUTES 

(the  Maori  name  for  New  Zealand),  1899 ;  Australasian  Democracy, 
by  H.  DeR.  Walker,  1897  ;  Les  Nouvelles  Sociitis  Anglo-Saxonnes,  by 
Pierre  Leroy-Beaulieu,  1901 ;  The  Story  of  New  Zealand,  by  Frank 
Parsons.  Sidney  Ball,  in  the  Economic  Review  for  July,  1903,  re- 
views Mr.  Reeves'  State  Experiments.  The  Report  of  the  Victorian  In- 
dustrial Commission  is  summarized  by  Mr.  A.  F.  Weber  in  the  Quar- 
terly Journal  of  Economics,  August,  1903. 

The  ablest  criticisms  of  the  New  Zealand  system  may  be  found  in 
a  short  art;icle  in  United  Australia  for  November  25,  1901,  by  the 
Hon.  W.  P.  Cullen,  and  a  pamphlet  by  J.  MacGregor,  reprinted  from 
the  Otago  Times,  1901  (a  reply  to  this  was  reprinted  from  the  Otago 
Liberal  and  Workman,  in  1902).  The  "  Liberty  Review"  Publishing 
Company  of  London  issues  a  sixpenny  pamphlet,  The  Truth  about 
the  New  Zealand  Act,  by  F.  G.  Ewington  and  others.  Labor  and 
Capital,  a  volume  edited  by  J.  P.  Peters,  contains  articles  by  Walter 
Fieldhouse,  H.  D.  Lloyd,  Conrad  Reno,  and  H.  H.  Lusk  in  favor  of 
"  compulsory  arbitration  ;  "  and  by  C.  D.  Wright,  S.  Gompers,  E.  E. 
Clark,  John  Mitchell,  and  J.  M.  Stahl  in  opposition.  Judge  M.  F. 
Tuley's  address  before  the  Illinois  State  Bar  Association  in  1902 
favors  incorporation  of  trade-unions,  but  opposes  such  arbitration. 
Among  earlier  discussions  may  be  named  an  article  by  Lyman  Abbott 
in  The  Arena  for  December,  1892,  and  one  by  Frank  Parsons  in  The 
Arena  for  March,  1897,  favoring,  and  one  by  C.  D.  Wright  in  The 
Forum  for  May,  1893,  opposing,  state  arbitration. 

The  Awards,  Recommendations,  Agreements,  etc.,  made  underthe  New 
Zealand  Act  are  now  published  in  annual  volumes  by  the  Department 
of  Labour  (vol.  i.  contains  the  record  from  August,  1894,  to  June  30, 
1900).  The  Journal  of  the  Department,  issued  monthly,  prints  these 
awards  first.  See  also  the  very  cheerful  Twelfth  Annual  Report  of 
the  Department,  for  1902-1903. 

The  New  South  Wales  Act  of  1901  was  expounded  and  defended  by 
the  Hon.  B.  R.  Wise,  Attorney-General,  in  the  National  Review  for 
Aiigust,  1902.  See  his  able  speeches  on  the  system  in  the  colonial 
Hansard  for  1900  and  1901.  The  Industrial  Arbitration  Reports  and 
Records  to  August  5,  1903,  have  been  published  in  eight  parts.  The 
Act  has  been  printed  in  the  Bulletin  of  the  Department  of  Labor,  No. 
40,  May,  1902,  and  in  the  Fifteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  New  York 
Board  of  Mediation  and  Arbitration,  which  also  contains  Jndge  Back- 
house's report. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  CASE  FOR  LEGAL  REGULATION 

The  question  whether  the  state  shall  take  in  hand  the 
settlement  of  labor  troubles  is  obviously  a  question 
of  degree.  In  answering  it,  we  do  well  to  begin  with 
matters  on  which  all  agree,  and  go  on  to  others-  that 
gradually  become  more  questionable.  In  all  strikes  the 
duty  of  the  government  to  preserve  order  and  to  put 
down  violence,  under  whatever  pretexts  it  is  employed, 
is  primary  and  indisputable.  That  the  state  should  en- 
courage the  formation  of  industrial  unions  by  giving 
them  legal  status,  so  that  the  agreements  of  employers 
and  workingmen  shall  be  binding  upon  both  parties 
is,  as  we  have  seen,  very  advisable.  How  far  it  should 
compel  the  parties  to  make  collective  bargains,  under 
penalty  of  deprival  of  the  right  to  follow  the  business 
and  do  the  work  under  previous  conditions,  is  the 
practical  issue.^  We  have  further  seen  that  railways 
and  other  corporations  supplying  public  utilities  should 
be  brought  under  rules  compelling  them  to  compose 
their  labor  troubles  with  their  employees,  through 
either  voluntary  or  state  boards  of    conciliation  and 

^  "  So  long  as  workmen  claim  a  rig-bt  to  hold  their  places  and  ac- 
tually protect  them  by  irregular  force,  there  is  no  escaping  from  the 
conclusion  that  society  is  called  to  adjudicate  that  claim  and  to  en- 
force it  in  the  cases  in  which  it  is  to  be  enforced  at  all."  —  Professor 
John  B.  Clark,  "  Is  Compulsory  Arbitration  Inevitable  ?  "  in  the  vol- 
ume entitled  Employers  and  Employees,  issued  by  "  Public  Policy," 
Chicago,  1902. 


402      THE  CASE  FOR  LEGAL  REGULATION 

arbitration.  The  modern  state  already  does  so  much 
in  the  way  of  regidating  the  charges  and  general  con- 
ditions of  railways,  for  instance,  that  the  additional 
step  of  regulating  their  labor  disputes,  so  that  they 
may  be  ended  speedily  and  fairly,  could  be  taken  with 
comparative  ease.  "  The  people  have  a  right  to  con- 
tinuous service." 

When  a  monopoly  is  so  evident  as  in  the  case  of 
the  supply  of  anthracite  coal  in  Pennsylvania,  the  re- 
gulation of  disputes  in  the  interest  of  the  public  is, 
beyond  question,  a  sane  measure.  In  the  settlement 
of  the  great  strike  of  1902  two  very  important  fac- 
tors were  an  indignant  public  and  a  public-spirited 
President.  The  compulsion  of  law  (which  is  the  ex- 
pression of  permanent  public  opinion) ,  acting  regularly 
in  any  future  cases  of  like  troubles,  would  be  accom- 
panied with  much  less  friction  and  injury.  The  recur- 
rence of  such  a  disgraceful  situation  should,  of  course, 
be  rendered  unpossible.  Peoples  given  to  opportunism, 
like  the  Americans  and  the  English,  will  most  probably 
attempt  to  solve  the  problem  of  industrial  peace  in  the 
tentative  fasliion  thus  indicated.  They  can  safely  ex- 
periment in  a  limited  field,  while  observing  the  later 
experience  of  New  Zealand  and  Australia  on  a  larger 
scale. 

The  question  of  a  fundamental  principle  will  not  be 
dismissed,  however,  and  we  may  well  discuss  it  briefly. 
The  principle  sought  appears  in  the  fact  that  one  of 
the  surest  tests  of  the  civilization  of  a  people  is  the 
amount  of  its  subjection  to  law.  In  proportion  as  law 
covers  the  actions  of  individuals  and  associations,  de- 
fining what  they  shall  do  and  what  they  shall  not  do, 
with  the  aim  and  the  result  of  insuring  the  largest 


THE  CASE  FOR  LEGAL  REGULATION     403 

possible  welfare  to  all,  is  a  country  civilized.  "  Only 
law  can  give  us  freedom."  The  New  Zealander  in 
Wellington  or  Dunedin,  subject  to  a  common  rule  of 
the  Court  of  Arbitration  applying  to  the  whole  colony, 
is  far  more  free  than  the  American  in  Chicago  or  St. 
Louis  who  must  be  protected  by  United  States  troops 
in  his  right  to  work  or  to  employ  workers.  The  New 
Zealand  employer's  old  idea  of  the  individualistic  con- 
duct of  business  has  suffered  much  modification,  but 
he  stands  now  on  an  equality  of  conditions  with  aU 
other  employers ;  the  just  hand  of  the  law  is  over  him 
to  direct  and  to  protect  him  impartially. 

It  is  plain  that  New  Zealand  has  gone  farther  on 
this  road  of  state  regulation  of  industry  than  the 
framers  of  its  arbitration  law  foresaw.  It  has  been 
drawn  on  inevitably  to  meet  the  developments  of  the 
situation  as  they  arose.  The  farther  the  New  Zea- 
landers  have  travelled  toward  the  fixing  of  wages  and 
conditions  by  courts  in  all  occupations,  the  more  de- 
sirable is  it  that  other  countries  should  wait  and  pro- 
fit by  their  experience,  in  bad  times  as  in  good  times. 
But  the  success  of  the  system  thus  far  should  not  be 
denied  or  minimized  by  candid  men.  It  has  been  great 
and  undeniable,  and  a  multitude  of  a  priori  objections 
to  such  a  law  have  been  swept  away  by  the  simple  fact 
of  its  persistent  and  happy  operation  for  eight  years.^ 
Such  a  concrete  instance  is  of  far  more  worth  than 

^  The  fixing  of  wages  by  an  arbitration  board,  for  instance,  has  been 
shown  to  be  a  very  different  matter  from  the  fixing  of  them  by  a  jus- 
tice of  the  peace  or  by  an  act  of  Parliament.  Traditional  objections 
to  determination  of  wages  by  other  persons  than  the  two  parties 
chiefly  concerned  need  revision  in  the  light  of  experience.  All  arbi- 
tration, in  the  broad  sense,  takes  this  matter  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
two  parties.  The  important  point  is  the  competence  and  fair-minded- 
ness of  the  court. 


404      THE  CASE  FOR  LEGAL  REGULATION 

volumes  of  theorizing.  The  success  of  New  Zealand  in 
the  legal  regulation  of  labor  disputes  is  undoubtedly 
the  chief  practical  argument  to-day  in  favor  of  the 
extension  of  the  general  principle  to  other  countries. 
The  method  can  no  longer  be  pronounced  impossible 
under  any  circumstances. 

The  chief  present  duty  for  other  countries  in  this 
matter  is  to  understand  what  New  Zealand  has  done. 
If  what  that  country  has  done  cannot  well  be  closely 
imitated  by  other  countries,  because  of  their  greater 
size  and  population  and  the  complication  of  their  in- 
dustries, they  cannot  put  by  the  fundamental  ques- 
tion whether  the  labor  troubles  so  characteristic  of 
our  time  should  not  be  brought  inside  the  realm  and 
power  of  law.  Too  evidently,  the  policy  of  allowing 
trade-unions  and  employers  a  free  field  for  their  war- 
fare, while  the  public  looks  on  and  suffers,  cannot  be 
permanent  with  an  enlightened  people.  Such  a  peo- 
ple wiU  soon  refuse  to  be  misled  or  alarmed  by  such 
phrases  as  "  compidsory  arbitration,"  used  as  sufficient 
argument  to  demolish  the  proposal  to  apply  judicial 
procedure  to  industry.  The  settlement  of  a  great  strike 
or  lockout  in  the  usual  blundering  fashion  cannot 
claim  to  be  rational  or  judicial  in  any  such  sense  as  is 
the  award  of  the  New  Zealand  court.  No  other  system 
of  state  arbitration  has  been  sufficiently  comprehensive 
or  effective.  Trade  arbitration  has  not  covered  all  the 
trades,  nor  does  it  appear  likely  to  do  so.  The  success- 
ful efforts  of  individuals,  of  bodies  of  employers  and 
workingmen,  and  of  public-spirited  citizens  should  nat- 
urally pave  the  way  for  a  permanent  policy  of  public 
control.  The  issues  in  a  modern  country  that  most  need 
a  stringent  application  of  reason  are  labor  disputes, 


THE  CASE  FOR  LEGAL  REGULATION     405 

and  "  the  law  is  perfection  of  reason."  The  powers  now 
in  the  hands  of  the  New  Zealand  Arbitration  Court 
are  very  great,  but  they  have  been  wisely  and  fairly 
used,  and  the  judge-made  law  of  its  decisions  has  been 
an  important  contribution  to  the  equity  of  industry.^ 

It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  such  courts  will  dis- 
cover any  substantially  new  or  theoretically  perfect 
grounds  for  fixing  wages.  Custom,  supply  and  de- 
mand, the  conditions  of  the  market,  the  cost  of  living, 
the  productivity  of  labor,  the  standard  of  life,  the  gen- 
eral prosperity  or  adversity  of  the  conununity,  —  these 
and  other  factors  will  be  taken  into  consideration  .^ 
Witnesses  will  be  summoned  in  abundance,  and  the 
judgment  rendered  will  be  in  accordance  with  experi- 
ence and  observation.  It  will  be  rendered  by  men  not 
likely  to  lose  out  of  sight  the  bearing  of  their  decisions 
upon  the  welfare  of  the  whole  country.  Their  opinions 
will  be  competent  and  disinterested  opinions. 

If  the  awards  of  such  a  tribunal  (assisted,  of  course, 
by  experts  in  special  cases,  to  any  needed  extent) 
should  not  be  respected  by  the  public,  that  public 
would  seem  to  stand  much  in  need  of  education  !  The 
state  of  mind  of  the  general  public  is,  indeed,  the  chief 

1  I  believe  that  the  constitution  of  such  courts  would  be  better  if 
they  were  somewhat  larger  and  the  members  somewhat  differently 
chosen.  A  bi-partisan  method  of  selection  is  unadvisable,  whatsoever 
the  parties  are.  A  court  of  five  impartial  men  would  be  better  than  a 
court  of  three.  If  it  were  made  up  of  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
a  retired  employer,  a  retired  merchant,  a  former  official  of  a  trade- 
union,  and  a  professor  of  applied  economics,  —  all  men  of  experience, 
of  broad  views,  and  moderate  spirit,  and  in  full  vigor,  —  its  decisions, 
which  would  probably  be  for  the  most  part  unanimous,  should  com- 
mand general  assent  and  respect. 

^  See  M.  Levasseur's  L'Ouvrier  AmSricain,  part  i.  ch.  xi.,  for  one 
of  the  best  statements  of  the  complex  causes  that  regulate  wages. 


406      THE  CASE  FOR  LEGAL  REGULATION 

factor  in  the  success  or  failure  of  such  a  system.  The 
gradual  creation  of  a  public  opinion  in  favor  of  the 
legal  regulation  of  labor  disputes  is  not  an  impossible 
thing  in  the  not  very  distant  future  of  English-speak- 
ing countries.  Now  that  full  and  trustworthy  reports 
from  New  Zealand  ai'e  increasing  in  number  and  in 
weight,  there  will  soon  be  no  excuse  for  misunder- 
standing or  misrepresentation  of  the  operation  of  its 
conciliation  and  arbitration  system.  So  much  stronger 
is  the  testunony  in  favor  of  it,  as  a  success,  than  against 
it,  as  a  failure,  that  a  candid  person  who  has  gone 
through  all  the  accessible  material  for  judgment  can 
hardly  doubt  on  which  side  the  verdict  of  the  public 
and  of  students  will  fall.  It  is  significant  that  English 
trade-unionists  like  Mr.  Tom  Mann,  who  have  been 
to  New  Zealand,  return  warm  advocates  of  it ;  such 
increasing  evidence  before  many  years  may  bring  the 
unionists  of  Great  Britain  into  agreement  with  those  of 
Australasia  in  a  friendly  attitude  toward  the  system. 

Neither  England  nor  America  is  ready  for  the  intro- 
duction of  the  New  Zealand  plan  :  the  warmest  friends 
of  it  shotdd  be  the  last  to  wish  it  tried  at  once,  if  pos- 
sible, in  an  uncongenial  environment.  And  it  may  be 
that  some  better  practical  method  for  the  solution  of 
industrial  disputes  wUl  be  beaten  out  of  experience. 
Nothing  is  gained  by  minimizing  the  importance  of 
the  argiunents  against  the  plan  now  in  effect  on  the 
other  side  of  the  globe.  It  involves  a  great  change 
in  the  habits  of  mind  of  emploj^ers  and  of  employed 
as  well,  to  give  up  their  "  rights  of  free  contract  "  to 
the  extent  demanded  ;  to  surrender  their  "  liberties  " 
to  submit  to  law  and  reason  or  not,  as  they  please. 
The  powers  in  the  hands  of  the  judges  of  the  Arbi- 


THE  CASE  FOR  LEGAL  REGULATION      407 

tration  Court  are  unprecedented,  and  it  is  natural  to 
declare  that  they  will  certainly  be  misused.  But  expe- 
rience does  not  tend  to  confirm  these  prophecies.  The 
conservatism  of  the  New  Zealand  court  thus  far  seems 
to  indicate  that  a  body  with  such  vast  powers,  and  so 
free  in  its  procedure  to  foUow  equity  more  than  tech- 
nicality, will  be  sobered  by  its  responsibilities,  leather 
than  intoxicated  by  its  authority.  Every  such  court 
will  make  mistakes,  but  it  will  also  be  able  to  undo 
them  soon.  The  number  of  errors  that  it  will  commit 
is  likely  to  be  small  by  the  side  of  those  into  which 
voluntary  arbitrators  would  fall.  As  the  system  in- 
creases its  years  of  life,  its  lines  of  operation  will  be- 
come better  defined.  A  large  body  of  precedents  will 
be  established,  and  the  tendencies  to  wise  and  conser- 
vative decisions  be  confirmed.^ 

The  legal  regulation  of  labor  disputes  may  be  "  a 
half-way  house  to  socialism,"  as  some  have  called  it. 
If  so,  it  may  be  found  to  be  as  far  in  that  direction 
as  mankind  wish  to  go  for  a  long  time,  if  not  perma- 
nently .^  "  Socialism  "  should  not  be  employed  as  a 
bugbear  to  deter  sensible  men  from  taking  practical 

^  "  As  between  courts  and  mobs  we  are  relyingf  on  mobs,  but  this 
is  only  because  we  have  not  ourselves  proved  the  efficacy  of  courts. 
The  evidence  is  in  favor  of  their  efficacy,  and  there  is  little  doubt 
that  we  shall  ultimately  have  them."  —  Professor  John  B.  Clark  on 
"  Authoritative  Arbitration,"  in  the  Political  Science  Quarterly,  De- 
cember, 1902. 

^  "  Now  that  combination  is  everywhere  displacinfj  competition, 
alike  in  capital  and  in  labor,  the  old  laissez-faire  individualism  is  per- 
force abandoned,  and  state  compulsory  arbitration  is  accepted  as  the 
most  practicable  compromise  with  the  spirit  of  socialism.  The  objec- 
tions of  economic  and  political  theorists  are  not  likely  to  prove  for- 
midable obstacles  to  its  adoption."  — Mr.  John  A.  Hobson  on  "  Com- 
pulsory Arbitration  in  Industrial  Disputes,"  in  the  North  American 
Review,  November,  1902,  p.  599. 


408      THE  CASE  FOR  LEGAL  REGULATION 

steps  toward  palpable  relief  from  intolerable  situations. 
It  is  not  necessary,  because  I  go  halfway  toward  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  that  I  shall  continue  my  course  until 
I  am  drowned  in  it ! 

The  whole  problem  of  the  regulation  of  monopolies 
is  involved  in  the  attempt  to  regulate  labor  troubles.^ 
It  is  the  modern  problem  in  the  industrial  world.  In 
solving  it  we  shall  probably  have  to  put  by  a  number 
of  venerable  prejudices  and  a  considerable  stock  of 
worn-out  ideas,  no  longer  fitted  to  their  envu'onment. 
In  this  not-too-comfortable  process  of  readjusting  our 
theories  to  the  actual  developments  of  modern  industry 
we  shall  owe  a  great  debt  to  those  who  have  experi- 
mented before  us,  and  so  have  diminished  the  possible 
number  of  painfid  endeavors  that  we  must  make  in 
the  dark.  The  thanks  of  the  civilized  world,  sorely 
perplexed  by  industrial  warfare,  should  go  out  to  the 
courageous  conm^iunity  in  the  southern  seas  that  is 
experimenting  with  so  much  vigor  and  straightfor- 
wardness. New  Zealand  is  not,  indeed,  legislating  for 
the  world,  but  for  herself,  as  Anglo-Saxon  countries 
have  a  wholesome  habit  of  doing.  Her  permanent  suc- 
cess in  the  legal  regulation  of  labor  disputes  would 
not  imply  that  other  countries  far  remote  should  hasten 
to  copy  the  details  of  her  legislation.  Her  lesson  to 
the  world  should  rather  be  :  Extend  the  borders  of 
Law  until  they  include  the  making  of  peace  between 
the  workman  and  the  employer  ;  let  the  sovereign  law 
of  the  land  regulate  industrial  disputes,  as  it  regulates 
all  others ! 

^  "  Trusts  have  made  strikes  injurious  and  dangerous,  and  may  soon 
make  them  unendurable."  — John  B.  Clark. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

ESSENTIAL    CONDITIONS   OF   INDUSTRIAL   PEACE 

The  first  essential  to  abiding  industrial  peace  in  the 
modern  world,  as  we  have  seen,  is  a  recognition  by 
employer  and  workingman  of  the  conditions  which 
actually  prevail.  These  conditions  are  entirely  incom- 
patible with  the  old-style  individualism  of  the  em- 
ployer. The  modern  employer  should  frankly  adjust 
himself  to  the  industrial  developments  of  the  last 
hundred  years.  He  plumes  himself,  in  fact,  on  keep- 
ing in  touch  with  these  developments  so  far  as  they 
affect  his  own  order.  He  is  quick  to  recognize  the 
desirability  of  combinations  of  manufacturers  and 
dealers.  He  needs,  then,  to  dismiss  from  his  mind 
the  thought  that  it  is  for  him  to  say  to  his  working- 
men  what  they  shall  do  about  combination  among 
themselves.  They  have  as  much  right  as  himself  to 
avail  themselves  of  the  help  which  comes  from  asso- 
ciation. It  lies  on  the  very  surface  that  they  need 
association  more  than  the  employer  does,  to  secure 
their  rights  and  privileges.  The  modern  employer 
must  not  think  that  he  is  to  "tolerate"  or  "allow" 
his  workmen  to  combine,  as  an  act  of  personal  amia- 
bility. The  association  of  workingiuen  is  one  of  the 
primary  facts  to  which  he  must  adjust  himself,  and 
he  must  be  prepared  to  accept  without  hesitation  the 
natural  consequences  of  such  combination.  He  must, 
for  instance,  be  ready  to  deal  with  the  representatives 


410  ESSENTIAL   CONDITIONS 

of  such  organizations  of  laboring  men,  whether  they 
be  called  "  walking  delegates  "  or  "  business  agents." 

Trade-unionists  must  likewise  frankly  recognize 
modern  conditions.  They  should  cease  to  denounce 
trusts  with  the  pei-fervid  rhetoric  so  common  in  labor 
literature.  Claiming  the  fullest  right  of  association, 
they  should  be  prepared  to  deal  logically  with  em- 
ployers exercising  the  same  right.  They  accept  the 
principle  of  association  so  far  as  it  gives  them  rights 
and  privileges.  They  should  accept  equally  the  duties 
and  responsibilities  involved  in  such  a  method.  They 
should  become  incorporated  bodies,  that  they  may  be 
able  to  deal  on  equal  terms  with  combinations  of 
employers.  If  trade-unionists  are  sincerely  afraid  that 
incorporation  will  expose  them  to  persecution  in  the 
way  of  htigation  for  damages,  they  might  at  least 
reconcile  themselves  to  incorporation  for  special  pur- 
poses, —  mainly  for  the  purpose  of  forming  trade 
agreements  with  employers'  associations,  for  which 
both  parties  could  be  held  legally  responsible. 

Trade-unionists  shoidd  recognize  the  economic  rea- 
sons which  require  that  improvement  in  the  condi- 
tion of  workingmen  shall  be  gi-adual.  They  must  not 
expect  the  progress  to  be  by  gigantic  strides.  The 
trade-union  is  but  one  party  out  of  three  to  every  such 
matter  as  an  increase  of  wages  or  a  shortening  of  the 
working  day.  The  capitalist-employer  is  a  person 
whose  activity  must  not  be  hampered,  if  the  standard 
of  hving  is  to  rise  through  an  increase  of  wages.  The 
public,  most  of  all,  is  not  to  be  hindered  in  the  largest 
consumption  possible,  by  any  alliance  between  the 
workingman  and  the  capitalist-employer  which  shall 
undiUy  increase  the   price  of    the  necessaries  or  the 


OF  INDUSTRIAL  PEACE  411 

comforts  of  life.  Increase  of  production  is  the  required 
antecedent  of  any  considerable  increase  of  wages,  or 
other  important  improvement  in  the  lot  of  the  work- 
ingman. 

If  both  parties  fully  comprehend  the  advantages  of 
combination  and  become  incorporate,  they  will  be  pre- 
pared for  the  fullest  measure  of  collective  bargaining, 
which  is  the  inevitable  consequence  of  such  organiza- 
tion. We  have  seen  the  wide  prevalence  which  collec- 
tive bargaining  has  attained  in  America  and  England. 
Whether  such  bargaining  carries  with  it  the  sliding 
scale  or  not,  the  tendency  will  be  to  adjust  wages  and 
profits  according  to  market  price. 

Most  of  the  ideals  cherished  by  trade-unions  are 
substantially  realizable  in  time.  The  movement  for  a 
shorter  working  day  is  gaining  in  strength  as  more 
and  more  examples  show  the  feasibility  of  reducing 
the  day's  work  in  many  occupations  from  ten  hours  to 
nine  or  eight,  without  decrease  of  wages.  In  all  direc- 
tions workmen  have  had  an  increase  of  wages  in  the 
last  generation.  Factory  legislation  has  been  steadily 
bringing  up  the  sanitary  conditions  of  modern  fac- 
tories to  the  strictest  demands  of  reformers.  It  will 
probably  be  impossible,  under  any  scheme  of  produc- 
tion, to  avoid  a  large  amount  of  monotony  of  work. 
This  is  not  a  hardship  peculiar  to  the  factory,  how- 
ever. But  the  unceasing  effort  of  modern  man  is  to 
transfer  monotonous  labor  to  machinery  so  far  as  pos- 
sible. As  Professor  AKred  Marshall  has  pointed  out, 
the  great  evil  is  not  monotony  of  work,  but  monotony 
of  life.  If  the  life  of  the  workingman  outside  of  the 
factory  can  be  cheered  and  brightened  and  uplifted, 
the  main  point  is  gained.    When  the  eigli|-hour  day 


412  ESSENTIAL   CONDITIONS 

shall  have  become  general  in  the  mass  of  occupations, 
the  question  will  naturally  arise  if  it  is  to  be  con- 
sidered the  possible  minimum.  The  writers  on  Utopia 
have  easily  answered  such  questions.  Sir  Thomas 
More  reduced  the  hours  of  daily  labor  to  six  in  his 
ideal  commonwealth.  Mr.  Herbert  Casson  declares 
that  four  hours  a  day  will  soon  be  sufficient.  But 
these  prophecies  are  evidently  not  based  on  the  statis- 
tics of  production  and  increase  of  population.  The 
practical  question  for  our  generation  is  the  question 
of  the  day  of  eight  hours,  not  of  six  or  four.  This 
short-time  working-day  is  certainly  one  of  the  ideals  of 
the  trade-union  most  immediately  realizable. 

But  the  ambitions  of  the  far-sighted  employer  are 
to  be  realized  as  well.  Production  must  be  increased 
to  give  him  a  large  return  and  allow  trade-union 
ideals  to  be  attained.  The  modern  employer  dreams 
of  a  continued  increase  in  the  mass  and  improvement 
in  the  quality  of  his  product.  He  is  constantly  sub- 
stituting complicated  machinery  to  save  the  labor  of 
the  human  being  in  all  directions.  He  is  continually 
devising  new  economies  in  the  processes  of  manufac- 
ture, and  the  modern  "  trust  "  has  opened  a  whole  new 
world  of  by-products  leading  to  profits  imdreamed-of 
before. 

In  order  that  production  may  reach  its  highest  at- 
tainable level  and  the  workingman's  condition  improve 
according  to  his  aspirations,  it  is  plainly  necessary  that 
modem  manufacturers  should  understand  and  practise 
the  economies  of  conciliation.  Every  shop,  factory, 
works,  mill,  or  foundry  shoidd  have,  in  itself  and  for 
itself,  provisions  for  committees  which  shall  immedi- 
ately take  cognizance  of  all  minor  difficulties  arising 


OF  INDUSTRIAL  PEACE  413 

in  the  ordinary  course  of  work,  as  in  the  Massachu- 
setts shoe  trade.  These  conciliation  committees  Avill 
settle  amicably  and  quickly  by  far  the  larger  number 
of  disputes,  some  of  which  would  otherwise  become 
formidable.  Their  work  might  well  be  supplemented 
by  such  a  system  of  suggestions  as  the  National  Cash 
Register  Company,  of  Dayton,  Ohio,  has  satisfactorily 
practised.  Such  a  system  brings  quickly  to  the  atten- 
tion of  the  employer  the  numerous  ideas  which  occur 
to  intelligent  workingmen  looking  to  the  improvement 
of  the  discipline  or  the  processes  of  manufacture. 

A  point  of  the  first  importance  is  that  every  col- 
lective agreement  between  employers  and  employed 
should  contain  a  stipulation  that,  in  case  disputes  arise 
vinder  the  agreement,  resort  shall  be  had  to  some 
species  of  arbitration.  This  general  provision  for  ar- 
bitration is  much  better  than  exceptional  resort  to 
it.  The  interpretation  of  any  feature  of  the  collective 
bargaining  could  be  referred  by  rule  to  a  board  of 
arbitration  in  the  trade,  or  to  a  State  board.  In  this 
way  a  very  large  number  of  greater  or  smaller  diifi- 
cidties  would  be  settled  with  ease,  the  industries  hav- 
ing been  fully  equipped  with  the  needful  machinery 
of  conciliation  and  arbitration. 

If  such  committees  and  such  collective  agreements 
were  universal,  strikes  and  lockouts  would  largely  dis- 
appear. There  would  then  be  little  need  of  discussing 
the  theoretical  right  of  the  employer  to  lock  out  his 
men  or  of  the  workmen  to  strike.  There  would  be  an 
increasing  and  prevailing  conviction  of  the  unreason 
and  the  practical  futility  of  such  steps.  We  are  not 
to  anticipate  that  wide  divei'gences  between  the  em- 
ployer and  the  employed,  as  to  wages  and  hours  and 


414  ESSENTIAL   CONDITIONS 

other  conditions  of  work,  will  immediately  vanish  with 
the  general  introduction  of  such  machinery  for  indus- 
trial peace.  The  fundamental  phenomena  of  bargain- 
ing will  continue  so  long  as  men  have  any  need  of 
exchange,  especially  in  the  sale  and  purchase  of  labor. 
The  Book  of  Proverbs  (xx.  14)  described  this  process 
once  for  all :  "  It  is  naught ;  it  is  naught,  saith  the 
buyer,  but  when  he  is  gone  his  way,  then  he  boasteth." 
So  long  as  human  nature  continues  substantially  what 
it  is  at  present,  we  may  expect  such  lack  of  harmony 
in  the  views  of  men  as  to  the  worth  of  things  or  ser- 
vices. But  everywhere  else  in  the  modern  world  the 
buyer  and  seller  come  peacefidly  to  an  agi-eement  in 
the  end.  So  it  will  doubtless  be  more  and  more  the 
case  in  the  matter  of  the  buying  and  selling  of  labor. 
Violence  and  unreason  will  gradually  disappear,  giv- 
ing place  to  a  peaceful  "  higgling  of  the  market." 

Dogmatic  projDhecy  as  to  the  place  that  the  trade- 
union  wiU  hold  in  the  future  is  very  unsafe.  One  may, 
perhaps,  anticipate  that  with  the  increase  of  industrial 
peace  the  benefit  features  of  trade-unionism  will  be 
more  in  evidence  ;  that  this  side  of  its  work,  becoming 
more  prominent,  wiU  attract  many  workingmen  who  now 
remain  outside  of  the  organization.  The  beneficiary 
funds  of  the  trade-miions  will  be  more  secure  through 
incorporation,  and  might  be  freed  from  calls  for  meet- 
ing the  expenses  of  strikes.  The  trade-unions  would 
then  be  able  to  compete  to  more  advantage  with  strictly 
beneficiary  societies  on  their  own  ground.  Under  such 
circumstances  it  would  seem  to  be  the  part  of  reason  for 
non-union  workingmen  to  join  the  unions  freely.  The 
experience  of  England  indicates  that  trade-unions  may 
look  forward  in  this  countrv  to  a  great  increase  in 


OF  INDUSTRIAL  PEACE  415 

their  numbers,  until  tliey  shall  embrace  the  majority 
of  skilled  workmen.  Nothing  could  be  more  conducive 
to  such  a  prosperous  future  for  trade-unionism  than 
such  a  policy  of  industrial  peace  as  I  have  outlined  in 
this  volume. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  unions  and  the  employers 
will  not  generally  accept  the  method  of  adjusting  their 
disputes  themselves,  through  trade  agreements  and 
trade  conciliation,  or  resort  freely  to  external  volun- 
tary agencies  like  the  National  Civic  Federation,  or 
to  State  boards  of  arbitration  (their  present  constitu- 
tion could  be  much  improved),  then  public  opinion  will 
doubtless  demand  the  introduction  of  some  such  system 
as  that  now  in  force  in  New  Zealand.  No  self-respect- 
ing society  can  hesitate  long  as  to  its  choice  between 
a  regime  which  allows  strikes  like  those  of  Homestead 
in  1892,  of  Chicago  in  1894,  of  Cleveland  in  1899, 
of  Albany  in  1900,  or  the  coal  strike  of  1902,  to  be 
repeated  indefinitely,  and  a  regime  of  strict  regulation 
of  labor  disputes  by  law.  If  the  two  great  parties  to 
labor  conflicts  will  not  come  to  a  substantial  agree- 
ment  themselves,  they  must  be  sternly  taken  in  hand 
by  their  superior,  i.  e.,  the  general  public,  through  its 
courts  of  law,  and  be  made  either  to  agree  or  to  quit 
business.  They  must  make  way  for  other  persons  of  a 
more  reasonable  disposition,  or  for  government  owner- 
ship. 

The  anarchy  of  such  individualism  as  was  advocated 
by  President  Baer  of  the  Reading  Railway  during  the 
recent  coal  strike  is  not  consistent  with  modern  civil- 
ization. The  only  "  infinite  wisdom  "  of  God  in  which 
reasonable  men  can  believe  is  the  wisdom  of  a  God  of 
reason,  demanding  that  employers  and  employed  shall 


416  ESSENTIAL   CONDITIONS 

adjust  themselves  to  modern  conditions.  It  would  cer- 
tainly show  little  wisdom  on  the  part  of  finite  men  to 
allow  great  and  important  privileges  to  continue  the 
perquisite  of  those  who  show  little  or  no  respect  for 
the  public  welfare.  Actual  ability  to  do  what  they  are 
incorporated  to  do  will  be  sternly  required  of  all  who 
enjoy  great  franchises. 

The  trade-unions  cannot  too  often  remember  that 
the  power  of  the  modern  employer  is  one  not  to  be 
taken  away  by  them.  They  must  realize  that  strong 
and  competent  men,  able  to  manage  great  undertak- 
ings and  thus  keep  workingmen  at  work,  will  not 
submit  to  senseless  dictation  or  unjust  conditions  pro- 
ceeding from  "  organized  labor."  When  such  an  un- 
wise policy  is  employed  by  workmen,  there  will  be  a 
sure  revenge  in  the  discontinuance  of  the  business, 
throwing  them  out  of  employment  for  an  indefinite 
time.  The  gradual  decline  of  manufactures  in  any 
country  where  such  practices  long  continue  will  drive 
home  the  folly  of  such  a  course. 

For  myself,  I  have  great  faitli  in  the  essential  rea- 
sonableness of  American  employers  and  workingmen, 
and  in  the  power  of  such  reasonableness  to  bring  about 
substantial  industrial  peace.  The  American  working- 
man  I  believe  to  be  a  person  in  whose  good  sense,  in 
whose  desire  to  do  the  right  thing  and  the  fair  thing, 
we  may  have  large  confidence.  The  American  work- 
ingman  is  willing  to  live  and  to  let  live.  But  he  needs, 
for  one  thing,  a  better  training  in  the  elements  of 
economic  science.  Common  school  education  should 
be  so  revised  that  some  tuition  In  these  matters  shall 
be  given  before  the  boy  gets  out  into  the  world  as  a 
worker  at  fourteen  or  sixteen.    The  American  work- 


OF  INDUSTRIAL  PEACE  417 

man  also  needs  to  be  disillusioned  concerning  the 
benefits  of  tariffs  and  high  protectionism.  It  is  as 
important  to  his  welfare  to  raise  the  purchasing  power 
of  wages  as  it  is  to  raise  the  nominal  amount  of  them. 

I  have  an  equal  faith  in  the  substantial  desire  of 
American  employers  of  labor  to  do  justice  to  their 
employees.  They  have  been  too  much  carried  away 
lately  by  the  temptation  to  abuse  their  ojDportunities 
of  industrial  combination ;  but,  as  authoritative  writ- 
ers tell  us,  these  abuses  wiU  correct  themselves  as  ex- 
perience teaches  the  folly  of  too  many  of  the  methods 
practised  in  the  last  few  years.  When  once  the  trusts 
are  rightly  adjusted  fo  their  environment  they  will 
probably  deal  more  generously  with  their  workingmen 
than  does  the  average  employer  under  the  competitive 
system. 

I  have  still  more  confidence  in  the  good  sense  and 
reasonableness  of  "  the  public "  as  the  final  tribunal 
before  which  aU  disputes  in  the  industrial  world  must 
be  brought,  directly  or  indirectly.  I  have  great  trust  in 
the  power  of  public  opinion  to  force  both  parties  in  labor 
troubles  to  adopt  reasonable  policies.  The  coal  strike  of 
1902  was  a  forcible  instance  of  this  power,  however  late 
it  was  in  rousing  itself,  and  however  little  one  would 
recommend  such  a  policy  for  a  permanency.  It  needs 
little  insight  to  see  that  the  public  in  America  has 
been  actively  concerned  with  the  question  of  preventing 
a  recurrence  of  such  troubles.  I  have  no  doubt  that 
public  opinion  will  reach  the  point  of  attempting  the 
policy  of  legal  regidation  of  labor  disputes,  if  employ- 
ers and  workingmen  do  not,  in  the  next  few  years, 
greatly  improve  upon  the  record  of  the  last  few.  Such 
confidence  as  I  express  has  been  justified  by  the  his- 


418  ESSENTIAL   CONDITIONS 

tory  of  the  American  people.  It  is  impossible  for  a 
great  democracy  to  extemporize  a  policy  for  the  regu- 
lation of  railways,  or  of  trusts,  or  of  labor  disputes, 
that  shall  do  justice  to  all  the  persons  involved.  Great 
loss  will  be  incurred  and  great  injury  suffered  before 
scientific  policies  are  developed,  but  that  they  will  be 
gradually  attained  I  have  little  doubt. 

I  would  not  close  this  volume  without  giving  fuller 
expression  than  I  have  thus  far  done  to  my  apprecia- 
tion of  the  profoundly  humane  character  of  the  trade- 
union  movement  in  its  best  aspects.  In  various  places 
I  have  pointed  out  the  dangers  to  which  the  unionist 
is  exposed  when  he  takes  his  trade-unionism  very  seri- 
ously. I  would  like  to  point  out  in  closing  some  of  the 
good  features  in  such  an  attitude.  The  labor  move- 
ment has  enlisted  the  allegiance  of  workingmen  of  the 
highest  grade.  Many  of  them,  for  weight  of  character 
and  solidity  of  mind,  have  no  superiors  among  the  pro- 
fessional or  business  classes.  They  are  men  of  whom 
any  country  might  well  be  proud,  as  one  of  its  finest 
products.  That  serious  and  public-spirited  men,  in 
many  cases  indifferent  to  anything  like  religious  con- 
ventionalities, should  practically  make  trade-unionism 
their  religion  is  not  strange.  Religion  means  very  little 
if  it  does  not  mean  something  in  which  we  profoundly 
believe,  and  which  commands  our  willing  and  devoted 
service.  If  religion  is  the  supreme  earnestness  of  life, 
any  movement  to  which  we  give  our  whole  heart  may 
become  our  real  faith.  I  see  in  the  trade-union  move- 
ment a  reaching  out  for  a  higher  and  larger  life,  —  a 
life  fuller,  deeper,  and  finer,  for  the  vast  majority  of 
mankind.  As  the  abolition  movement  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  in  the  United  States  was  practically  a 


INDUSTRIAL  PEACE  419 

religion  for  numerous  highminded  and  devoted  men  and 
women  who  embraced  it ;  as  cooperation  in  England 
and  on  the  continent  of  Europe  is  a  faith  and  a  code 
of  morals  to  thousands  of  skilled  artisans  and  to  men 
of  high  education  not  a  few  ;  as  the  Union  and  States' 
Rights  were  vital  religions  to  the  North  and  the  South 
in  the  time  of  oui*  Civil  War,  so  trade-unionism,  or  the 
labor  movement,  may  become — it  is,  in  fact,  for  the  best 
spirits  among  workingmen  —  a  real  religion  of  human- 
ity. I  have  considered  the  phenomena  of  trade-unionism 
on  economic  groxmds  chiefly,  but  these  higher  aspects 
of  the  movement  may  not  be  permanently  neglected 
by  any  one  who  is  aware  of  the  supreme  importance 
of  spiritual  and  moral  influences  even  in  a  profoundly 
material  civilization.  Whatever  practically  constitutes 
a  religion  of  humanity  for  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
our  fellow-men  is  not  to  be  considered  as  thoroughly 
treated  if  handled  on  purely  economic  principles.  We 
have  here  a  movement  of  a  vast  mass  of  people,  deeply 
impressive  in  its  claim  for  a  truer  and  nobler  justice 
than  has  yet  been  realized.  What  they  are  calling  for 
is  essentially  a  greater  opportunity  to  develop  as  hu- 
man beings ;  a  larger  share  of  the  finer  and  higher 
life  which  civilization  is  extending  among  men.  The 
thoughts  and  aspirations  of  the  real  leaders  of  trade- 
unionism  are  not  confined  to  the  necessary  material 
conditions  of  the  higher  life.  They  have  a  true  moral 
enthusiasm.  I  do  not  desire  to  be  numbered  among 
the  mere  critics  of  a  movement  so  important  and  in- 
spiring. I  wish  to  be  counted  among  the  true  friends 
of  its  ideals,  among  the  firm  believers  in  its  funda- 
mental doctrine  of  the  elevation  of  the  working  classes. 
Such  friends  and  believers  see  the  dangers  into  which 


420  ESSENTIAL   CONDITIONS 

fervent  religionists  are  apt  to  fall.  In  the  intensity  of 
their  enthusiasm  and  devotion  to  their  own  body  the 
religionists  of  unionism  become  very  unjust  to  other 
men,  —  narrow  in  their  view  of  the  entire  meaning  of 
society,  prejudiced  against  much  of  the  best  in  that 
society,  suspicious  of  their  wisest  counsellors  outside 
their  own  movement,  and  addicted,  above  all,  to  a 
bigotry  quite  able  to  check  the  advance  of  their  move- 
ment, even  as  religious  bigotry  has  retarded  pure 
Christianity  more  than  all  the  persecutions  it  has  ever 
suffered.  The  treatment  of  non-unionists  by  unionists 
reminds  one  too  often  of  the  worst  persecutions  which 
sects  and  churches  of  the  past  have  carried  on.  Only 
by  greater  faithfulness  to  a  spirit  of  reasonableness 
will  trade-unionists  convert  the  great  body  of  non- 
unionists  to  their  policy  for  improving  the  condition 
of  mankind. 

Trade-unionism  may  have  a  great  future  before  it. 
I  would  fain  see  that  future  marked  by  a  deep  sense 
of  responsibility  for  large  power  and  by  a  temperate 
employment  of  it  for  the  good  of  all  classes.  The  one 
primary  truth  of  morals  must  become  more  clear  to 
the  trade-unionists,  as  to  other  reformers,  —  that  all  are 
parts  of  one  great  whole.  Trade-unionism  is  held  as 
one  factor  in  the  mighty  common  life  of  society.  Let 
it  be  enlightened,  wise,  and  reasonable.  Then  it  will 
approve  itself  to  the  public,  and  become  more  and 
more  a  chosen  instrument  for  bringing  in  by  slow 
degrees,  but  with  perfect  sureness,  the  reign  of  indus- 
trial peace. 


APPENDIX  I 

EMPLOYERS    ASSOCIATIONS 

Rules  of  the  National  Association  of  Master  Builders  of 
Great  Britain,  established  in  1878  (Head  Office  in  Liv- 
erpool). 

To  defend  the  interests  of  its  members  against  combinations  of 
workmen  seeking  by  strikes  or  other  actions  to  impose  restrictive 
conditions  upon  the  building  trades  ;  to  secure  united  action  and 
mutual  support  in  dealing  with  demands  made  by  such  combinations, 
especially  with  reference  to  hours  of  labour,  piece-work,  overtime, 
employment  of  non-union  men,  apprentices,  use  of  machinery,  etc. ; 
to  provide  for  the  equitable  arrangement  of  all  differences  between 
workmen  and  employers  in  the  trade  ;  to  obtain  the  recognition  by 
architects  and  others  of  a  fair  and  equitable  form  of  contract  between 
builders  and  their  customers ;  to  establish  branches  of  the  Associa- 
tion, and  to  raise  a  common  fund  for  carrying  out  these  objects. 

The  general  business  of  the  Association  is  managed  by  an  Execu- 
tive Council,  consisting  of  a  president,  two  vice-presidents,  a  treasurer, 
and  twenty-one  other  members,  elected  annually.  There  is  also  a 
paid  secretary. 

Meetings  of  the  Association  take  place  half-yearly,  and  at  such 
other  times  as  the  president  and  vice-president  deem  necessary.  At 
each  half-yearly  meeting  it  must  be  decided  when  the  next  one  shall 
be  held,  and  it  is  desirable  that  the  place  of  meeting  be  changed  from 
town  to  town  so  that  the  convenience  of  the  members  may  be  eqiiita- 
bly  met,  and  the  interest  in  the  Association  more  immediately  felt  in 
various  districts.  Each  branch  Association  with  thirty  members  or 
less  is  entitled  to  send  two  representatives  to  the  half-yearly  meet- 
ings, and  each  branch  Association  with  more  than  thirty  members  is 
entitled  to  send  an  additional  representative  for  each  additional  thirty 
or  portion  of  thirty  members. 

All  questions  before  the  Executive  and  the  half-yearly  meetings 
shall  be  decided  by  a  majority  of  votes  of  the  members  present  at 
such  meetings ;  the  representatives  of  branch  Associations  to  be  enti- 
tled to  the  number  of  votes  warranted  by  the  number  of  members  of 
the  branches.  In  case  of  equality  of  votes,  the  chairman  shall  have  a 
casting  vote. 

Rules  may  be  altered  or  added  only  at  a  half-yearly  or  special  gen- 


422  APPENDIX  I 

eral  meeting'  called  for  the  purpose,  and  after  at  least  one  month's 
notice  has  been  given  in  writing  to  the  secretary,  stating  in  full  the 
nature  of  the  proposed  rules  or  alterations.  The  National  Association 
must  at  once  forward  a  copy  of  this  notice  to  each  branch. 

The  Association  is  a  Union  of  local  associations  connected  with  the 
building  trades  throughout  the  country,  and  of  such  individual  mem- 
bers of  the  trade  as  are  not  members  of  any  local  association,  and  are 
elected  by  the  Executive  Council.  No  person  residing  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  a  local  association  shall  be  elected  a  member  before  the 
latter  has  been  consulted. 

The  annual  subscription  from  each  local  association  is  according  to 
a  graduated  scale,  ranging  from  21.  2s.,  for  associations  with  not  more 
than  five  members,  to  1.5/.  16s.  for  those  with  from  seventy  to  one 
hundred  members,  and  an  additional  5/.  5s.  for  every  additional  fifty 
or  portion  of  fifty  members.  The  annual  subscription  for  individual 
members  is  not  less  than  1/.  Is. 

The  Association  shall  assist  the  local  associations  in  time  of  strikes 
by  such  means  as  may  appear  desirable.  The  secretary  shall  bring 
the  influence  of  the  Association  to  bear  throughout  the  country  in 
order  to  coimteract  any  local  or  general  strike. 

On  notice  being  given  by  the  operatives  for  increase  of  wages,  or 
shortened  hours,  or  other  alterations  of  working  rules,  the  secretary 
of  the  branch  association  in  whose  district  the  demand  is  made  must 
at  once  communicate  with  the  Executive  Council  and  also  with  the 
other  branch  associations. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  each  branch  association  to  forward  every 
month  to  the  secretary  a  report  of  the  state  of  trade  in  the  district. 

The  secretary  must  receive  all  subscriptions  and  other  moneys  and 
pay  them  into  a  bank  to  the  credit  of  the  Association.  Money  must 
be  withdrawn  from  the  bank  by  cheques  signed  by  the  president  and 
treasurer  for  the  time  being. 

Extract    fkom  the    Rdles  of   the  Ikon  Trades  Employers 
Association  (revised  in  1888). 

Any  demand  affecting  the  general  interests  of  employers  made  on 
any  member  shall  be  referred  by  hini  to  the  Committee  of  Manage- 
ment, which  shall  make  such  recomiiiendation  or  direction  as  it  may 
deem  expedient.  The  Committee,  or  a  special  general  meeting,  may 
recommend  support  from  the  common  fund  in  resistance  to  a  strike 
or  other  combined  action  ;  suspension  of  overtime ;  any  lawful  con- 
ditions as  to  the  conduct  of  the  business  of  members  necessary  to 
meet  unreasonable  or  injurious  demands  for  diminished  hours,  mini- 
mum rate  of  wages,  dismissal  of  any  workman,  employment  of  men  or 
boys,  or  other  unreasonable  requisitions  ;  and  any  subsidiary  measures 
in  furtherance  of  the  objects  of  the  Association.    When  further  pro- 


APPENDIX  I  423 

tective  measures  are  needed,  the  Committee  may  organize  and  direct 
the  voluntary  cooperation  of  any  members  who  agree  upon  a  lawful 
mode  of  action  to  avert  or  settle  disputes. 

Employers  Association  of  Dayton,  Ohio. 

Here  follow  the  most  important  portions  of  the  constitution  and 
by-laws :  — 

Art.  II.    Sec.  1 .    The  objects  of  this  Association  are  :  — 

First  —  To  protect  its  members  in  their  right  to  manage  their  re- 
spective businesses,  in  such  lawful  manner  as  they  may  deem  proper. 

Second  —  The  adoption  of  a  uniform  legitimate  system  whereby 
members  may  ascertain  who  is,  and  who  is  not,  worthy  of  their 
employment. 

Third  —  The  investigation  and  adjustment,  by  the  proper  officers 
or  committees  of  the  Association,  of  any  question  arising  between 
members  and  their  employees,  when  such  question  shall  be  submitted 
to  the  Association  for  adjustment. 

Fourth  —  To  endeavor  to  make  it  possible  for  any  person  to  obtain 
employment  without  being  obliged  to  join  a  labor  organization,  and 
to  encourage  all  such  persons  in  their  efforts  to  resist  the  compulsory 
methods  of  organized  labor. 

Fifth  —  To  protect  its  members  in  such  manner  as  may  be  deemed 
expedient  and  proper  against  Legislative,  Municipal,  and  other  Politi- 
cal encroachments. 

Art.  III.  Sec.  1.  The  members  of  this  Association  may  be  per- 
sons, firms,  corporations,  or  organizations  of  persons,  firms,  and  cor- 
porations employing  labor,  and  engaging  more  than  five  employees  ; 
and,  provided,  that  no  applicant  for  membership  shall  be  admitted 
except  as  provided  in  the  By-Laws. 

Sec.  2.  Each  person,  firm,  corporation,  or  organization  holding 
membership  in  the  Association,  shall  designate  one  person  to  repre- 
sent him  or  it  in  the  Association,  and  the  person  so  designated  may 
be  represented  by  proxy,  provided  such  proxy  is  presented  by  a  part- 
ner in  a  fii-m  or  an  officer  in  any  corporation  or  organization  which 
may  be  a  member  of  the  Association,  by  consent  of  a  majority  of 
members  pi'esent  at  any  meeting. 

Sec.  8.  Each  member  shall  be  entitled  to  one  vote  as  provided  for 
in  the  By-Laws. 

Sec.  4.  Honorary  members  may  be  admitted  when  the  By-Laws  so 
provide. 

Art.  VI.  Sec.  5.  Not  more  than  one  member  of  any  firm  shall 
hold  office  or  act  as  a  member  of  any  committee. 

Art.  VII.  Sec.  1.  All  members  of  this  Association  shall  make, 
execute,  and  acknowledge  in  writing,  an  agreement,  in  words  and 
manner  following,  to  wit :  — 


424  APPENDIX  I 

We  (or  I),  the  undersigned,  being  engaged  in  the  business  of , 

do  hereby  covenant  and  agree  to  and  with  each  and  every  person,  firm, 
or  corporation  composing  the  membership  of  The  Employers  Associa- 
tion, of  Dayton,  Ohio,  as  follows  :  — 

First  —  In  consideration  of  fair  dealing,  and  the  right  to  enjoy  the 
privileges  laid  down  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  being 
cardinal  principles  of  the  Association,  we  (or  I)  pledge  ourselves  to 
use  our  best  efforts  to  protect  any  of  our  fellow  members  who  may 
require  our  support  against  any  and  all  unjust  demands,  and  to  en- 
deavor to  settle  all  disputes  or  differences  justly  and  amicably. 

Second  —  We  bind  ourselves  to  obey  the  Constitution  and  By-Laws, 
and  all  proper  rules  made  in  conformity  with  the  same,  provided  they 
do  not  conflict  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  nor  with 
the  laws  of  the  State  of  Ohio. 

By-Laws.  Art.  I.  Each  member  of  or  participant  in  the  Asso- 
ciation, and  each  employee  thereof,  shall  be  required  to  subscribe  to 
such  form  of  oath  as  may  be  prescribed  by  the  Association  before 
being  admitted  to  any  of  its  meetings,  except  that  such  admission 
may  be  granted  to  any  person  upon  consent  of  two  thirds  of  the  mem- 
bers present  at  any  meeting. 

Art.  II.  The  consideration  for  services  rendered  the  Association 
by  any  and  all  officers  or  members  thereof,  excepting  the  Secretary, 
however,  shall  be  the  benefits  derived  from  membership  in  the  Asso- 
ciation, and  no  compensation  shall  be  paid  for  any  such  services. 

Art.  VIII.  Sec.  3.  Any  person,  firm,  or  corporation  engaged  in  a 
strike  or  lockout  may  make  ajiplication  for  and  be  accepted  as  a  pro- 
bationary member,  pending  an  examination  of  his  case  by  the  Strike 
Committee.  If,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Strike  Committee,  after  care- 
ful consideration,  it  is  to  the  interests  of  the  Association  to  advance 
a  probationary  member  to  full  membership,  the  same  may  be  done 
by  a  full  vote  of  the  Strike  Committee. 

Sec.  4.  No  member  shall  be  entitled  to  the  benefits  of  membership 
in  the  settlement  of  any  difficulty  which  may  arise  between  him  and 
his  workmen  before  he  shall  have  been  a  member  of  the  Association 
for  a  period  of  one  month,  except  by  the  unanimous  consent  and  ap- 
proval of  the  Executive  Committee. 

Art.  X.  Sec.  .S.  When  a  member  is  engaged  with  a  strike,  or  from 
any  other  cause  is  unable  to  obtain  and  hold  other  workmen  in  place 
of  those  on  strike  or  previously  employed  by  him,  on  account  of  inter- 
ference on  the  part  of  any  labor  organization  or  their  allies,  the  Strike 
Committee  shall,  when  requested  by  such  member,  investigate  the 
situation  and  may  recommend  to  the  Association,  at  a  special  meeting 
called  for  the  purpose,  if  necessary,  the  offering  of  reward,  in  such 
form  as  may  appear  to  be  wise,  to  persons  who  shall  remain  in  the 
employ  of  such  member  during  the  continuance  of  such  difficulty. 


APPENDIX  I  425 

Sec.  4.  If  a  member  shall  take  any  action  for  the  purpose  of  pre- 
cipitating a  strike  or  lockout  without  obtaining'  the  approval  and 
consent  of  the  Strike  and  Executive  Committees,  such  member  shall 
not  be  entitled  to  the  support  of  the  Association  pending  settlement 
thereof. 

Sec.  .5.  If  a  member  shall  settle  a  difference  or  strike  involving 
a  question  of  general  interest  to  the  Association,  without  first  obtain- 
ing the  approval  and  consent  of  the  Strike  and  Executive  Commit- 
tees, then  in  such  event  such  member  shall  repay  to  the  Association 
all  money  which  it  may  have  paid  out  on  account  of  said  difference 
or  strike,  and  the  Association  shall  be  relieved  of  all  responsibility 
in  the  premises. 

Sec.  6.  Whenever  the  Executive  Committee  may  deem  it  wise  and 
proper  to  protect  a  member  by  wholly  or  partially  compensating  him 
for  loss  sustained  through  a  strike  or  difficulty  attributed  to  labor 
organizations,  it  shall  make  proper  recommendation  to  the  Association 
at  a  regular  or  called  meeting  thereof,  and  if  such  recommendation 
be  approved  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  members  present  at  such 
meeting,  the  amount  of  such  compensation  shall  be  paid  them.  Such 
compensation  shall  not,  however,  exceed  $1.00  per  day  for  each  em- 
ployee out,  less  such  number  of  employees  as  may  be  employed  in 
their  places. 

Sec.  7.  At  the  request  of  a  member  directly  interested,  it  shall 
be  the  duty  of  the  Executive  Committee,  subject  to  the  approval  of 
the  Association,  to  authorize,  order,  and  conduct  the  prosecution  of 
the  leaders  of  mobs  or  persons  threatening  or  doing  injury  to  the 
property  of  the  members,  also  those  instrumental  in  establishing  so- 
called  boycotts  against  their  production,  and  the  expenses  of  such 
prosecutions  shall  be  paid  by  the  Association. 

Sec.  8.  When  a  demand  is  made  on  a  member  through  a  commit- 
tee of  any  labor  organization,  said  member  shall  be  privileged  to  refer 
such  committee  to  the  Strike  Committee  of  this  Association,  and  once 
having  done  so  he  shall  not  thereafter  negotiate  a  settlement  of  such 
demand  without  the  consent  and  approval  of  a  majority  of  said  Strike 
Committee,  which  Committee  shall  appoint  three  members  of  the 
Association  to  take  charge  of  the  matter,  and  the  members  so  ap- 
pointed shall  immediately  proceed,  in  conjunction  with  the  member 
on  whom  the  demand  is  made,  to  effect  a  settlement,  which  settle- 
ment, if  not  satisfactory  to  the  said  member,  shall  be  referred  back 
to  the.  Strike  and  Executive  Committees  for  such  action  as  they  may 
deem  best  in  the  premises. 

Sec.  0.  When  any  member  shall  have  a  difficulty  resulting  from  its 
compliance  with  the  requirements  of  this  Association,  it  may  submit 
the  matter  to  the  Executive  Committee,  which  shall  take  such  action 
as  may  be  equitable  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  this  Association. 


426  APPENDIX  I 

Akt.  XVI.  Sec.  1.  The  Secretary  of  this  Association  may  pro- 
vide each  of  its  members  with  recommendation  cards,  which  shall 
he  provided  by  the  Strike  Committee,  to  be  used  for  the  purpose  of 
recommending  any  employee  who  may  be  honorably  discharged  from, 
or  who  shall  honorably  quit,  the  employ  of  a  member  thereof. 

Art.  XVII.  Sec.  1.  All  matters  of  politics  relating  to  municipal 
and  legislative  affairs  in  so  far  as  such  matters  may  affect  the  object 
of  this  Association,  shall  be  proper  subjects  for  discussion  at  its 
meetings  and  action  by  its  members,  as  such. 

Sec.  2.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  each  member  of,  or  participant  in, 
this  Association  to  report  thereto  any  political  or  legislative  matter, 
as  provided  in  Section  1  hereof,  which  may  come  to  his  notice. 

Sec.  3.  No  political  question,  other  than  as  provided  in  Section  1 
hereof,  shall  be  discussed  at  any  of  the  meetings  of  this  Association, 
except  by  a  two  thirds  affirmative  vote  of  all  members  present  at  the 
meeting  at  which  such  matter  is  introduced. 

Akt.  XIX.  Sec.  2.  No  member  shall  resign  during  the  existence 
of  a  strike  or  pending  the  settlement  of  a  difficulty  between  a  mem- 
ber of  this  Association  and  his  men. 

The  Citizens  Industrial  Association  of  America. 

This  body  was  organized  October  30,  1903,  at  Chicago,  and  a  con- 
stitution was  adopted,  from  which  these  extracts  are  made  :  — 

Art.  I.  This  Association  shall  be  known  as  "  The  Citizens  Indus- 
trial Association  of  America,"  and  shall  be  incorporated. 

Art.  II.  Objects.  First.  —  To  assist,  by  all  lawful  and  practical 
means,  the  properly  constituted  authorities  of  the  State  and  nation 
in  maintaining  and  defending  the  supremacy  of  the  law  and  the 
rights  of  the  citizen. 

Second.  —  To  assist  all  the  people  of  America  in  resisting  encroach- 
ments upon  their  constitutional  rights. 

Third.  —  To  promote  and  encourage  harmonious  relations  between 
employers  and  their  employees  upon  a  basis  of  equal  justice  to  both. 

Fourth.  —  To  assist  local.  State,  and  national  associations  of  manu- 
facturers, employers,  and  employees,  in  their  efforts  to  establish  and 
maintain  industrial  peace,  and  to  create  and  direct  a  public  sentiment 
in  opposition  to  all  forms  of  violence,  coercion,  and  intimidation. 

Fifth.  —  To  foster  and  encourage,  by  legitimate  means,  individual 
enterprise  and  freedom  in  management  of  industry,  under  which  the 
people  of  the  United  States  have  made  this  the  most  successful  and 
powerful  nation  of  the  world. 

Sixth.  —  To  establish  a  Bureau  of  Organization  for  the  formation 
of  associations  favorable  to  the  objects  of  this  organization,  and  fed- 
erating them  with  this  Association. 


APPENDIX  I  427 

Seventh.  —  To  establish  a  Bureau  of  Education  for  the  publication 
and  distribution  of  literature  tending  to  foster  the  objects  of  the 
Association. 

Eighth.  —  To  create  and  maintain  a  fund  for  such  purposes,  in  har- 
mony with  and  promotive  of  the  objects  of  this  Association,  as  shall 
approve  themselves  to  the  Executive  Committee  thereof. 

Art.  III.  Sec.  1.  Membership  in  this  Association  shall  consist  of 
national.  State,  or  local  organizations  of  persons,  firms,  corporations, 
or  organizations  which  subscribe  to  the  objects  of  this  Association,  as 
set  forth  in  the  Constitution  and  By-Laws. 

Art.  V.  Sec.  1.  The  Association  shall  hold  a  convention  each 
year,  and  special  conventions  may  be  called  by  the  President  at  such 
times  and  places  as  the  Executive  Committee  by  unanimous  vote,  or 
by  two  thirds  vote  of  its  members  upon  the  written  request  of  at 
least  10  per  cent,  of  the  membership,  may  direct ;  and  at  such  special 
conventions  any  officer  may  be  deposed  by  a  majority  of  the  members 
present  and  voting. 

Art.  VII.  Sec.  1.  All  members  of  this  Association  shall  pay  an 
initiation  fee  as  follows :  National  trade  organizations  and  State  or- 
ganizations, $100  ;  local  general  organizations,  $50  ;  local  trade  organ- 
izations, $25.  All  members  shall  pay  dues  at  the  rate  of  50  cents  per 
annum  per  employing  member,  but  in  no  case  shall  the  amount  be 
less  than  $10  nor  greater  than  $200  per  annum. 

Sec.  3.  The  fiscal  year  of  this  Association  shall  begin  on  Novem- 
ber 1  of  each  year. 

Sec.  4.  Representation  in  this  Association  for  all  purposes  what- 
ever shall  be  based  upon  the  dues  paid  by  any  member.  Each  asso- 
ciation shall  be  entitled  to  one  vote  for  each  $10  of  annual  dues,  or 
major  fractional  part  thereof :  Provided,  that  no  member  shall  send 
more  than  five  delegates  to  any  convention. 

The  Association  at  its  first  meeting  passed  these  resolutions :  — 

Whereas,  The  strained  relations  between  employer  and  employee 
are  rapidly  reducing  the  business  conditions  of  the  country  into  a 
state  of  chaos  and  anarchy,  and  the  forces  of  socialism  which  are 
assuming  control  of  the  situation  regard  neither  law  nor  the  rights 
and  the  liberties  of  individuals,  and 

Whereas,  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  pro^-ides  that 
"  Congress  shall  have  power  to  regulate  commerce  with  foreign 
nations  and  among  the  several  States,"  and  further  provides  that 
"  No  person  shall  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property  without  due 
process  of  law,  nor  shall  private  property  be  taken  without  just  com- 
pensation," and  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  this  convention  demand.s  that  the  officials,  whether 
civic,  State,  or  national,  enforce  the  law  of  the  land  and  see  to  it  that 


428  APPENDIX  I 

every  man,  woman,  and  child  seeking  to  earn  an  honest  livelihood 
shall  be  protected  therein  by  the  whole  force  of  the  State  or  of  the 
nation,  if  it  be  necessary. 

Resolved,  therefore^  That  in  carrying  on  a  firm  and  uncompromising 
contest  with  the  abuses  of  unions  as  now  constituted  and  conducted, 
at  the  same  time  acknowledging  the  free  right  of  workmen  to  com- 
bine, and  admitting  that  their  combination  when  rightfully  constituted 
and  conducted  may  prove  highly  useful,  we  earnestly  desire  to  act, 
and  believe  we  are  acting,  in  the  true  interests  of  the  workingrnen 
themselves,  for  our  welfare  is  inseparable  from  theirs  and  theirs  from 
ours  ;  we  are  essentially  interdependent,  each  is  indispensably  neces- 
sary to  the  other ;  and  those  who  stir  up  strife  between  us  are  enemies 
of  mankind. 

Resolved,  That  the  Citizens  Industrial  Association  of  America  is  in 
earnest  sympathy  with  every  movement  in  the  interest  of  labor.  Be- 
lieving that  there  can  be  no  national  prosperity  where  the  working 
masses  are  ground  down  in  hopeless  poverty  and  ignorance,  we  hold, 
as  happiest  of  all  the  results  of  the  great  industrial  revolution  achieved 
in  the  last  half  century,  the  greatly  advanced  and  improved  condition 
of  the  workingman  at  the  present  day. 

The  president  of  the  Association  is  Mr.  David  M.  Parry,  of  Indian- 
apolis, who  is  also  president  of  the  National  Association  of  Manufac- 
turers ;  the  secretary  is  Mr.  A.  C.  Marshall,  of  Dayton,  Ohio.  The 
Executive  Committee  has  since  issued  an  "  appeal  for  organization"  : 
it  recommends  that  employers  should  organize  by  crafts  in  their 
respective  communities,  these  craft  organizations  to  be  amalgamated 
into  local  organizations,  which  in  turn  shall  affiliate  with  the  national 
body.  It  passed  resolutions  in  favor  of  the  "  protection  of  free  labor  " 
and  of  the  establishment  of  a  Labor  Information  Bureau  for  the  use 
of  the  members  of  the  Association,  "  It  shall  be  one  of  the  purposes 
of  this  bureau  to  keep  a  carefully  tabulated  record  of  all  lawbreakers 
and  undesirable  workmen."  Other  resolutions  denounced  the  eight- 
hour  bill  now  pending  in  Congress,  and  the  union  label  as  "  a  form 
of  discrimination,  and  in  fact  a  species  of  the  boycott." 

The  Association  published  December  15,  lOOU,  a  "  List  of  Associa- 
tions of  Employers  and  Citizens,"  from  which  it  appeai-s  that  there 
were  then  59  national  associations  (including  the  American  Anti-Boy- 
cott Association),  66  district  and  State  associations,  and  461  local 
organizations  (including  numerous  "  Citizens'  Alliances  "). 

The  Industrial  Association  will  be  judged  in  accordance  with  the 
record  which  it  makes.  It  would  have  been  better  named  if  called 
"  The  National  Association  of  Employers,"  with  its  membership  con- 
fined strictly  to  employers  of  labor.  Its  weakest  point  is  in  its  leader- 
ship.   The  president  in  his  presidential  address  to  the  National  Asso- 


APPEIWIX  II  429 

ciation  of  Manufacturers  in  April,  1903,  declared  that  "  this  is  not  the 
proper  time  to  talk  conciliation  .  .  .  since  the  principles  and  demands 
of  organized  labor  are  absolutely  untenable  to  those  believing  in  the 
individualistic  social  order.  [Mr.  Parry  considers  Herbert  ISpencer 
"the  last  and  the  greatest  of  the  intellects  of  the  Victorian  era."] 
Neither  is  it  the  time  to  talk  arbitration  or  joint  agreements."  It  is 
only  too  obvious  that  general  statements  concerning  the  entire  right 
of  workingmen  to  combine  in  trade-unions  have  little  value  when 
coming  from  persons  holding  sucli  views  concerning  conciliation,  arbi- 
tration, and  joint  agreement.  Mr.  Parry's  "  recognition"  of  the  unions 
is  as  extreme  in  its  practical  nullity  as  Mr.  Gompers'  is  in  its  practical 
universality.  The  organization  of  an  Industrial  Association  is  a  step 
forward ;  the  next  step  should  be  the  retirement  of  its  extremists  to 
the  rear,  and  the  promotion  to  leadership  of  men  of  moderation,  in 
touch  with  their  time. 

APPENDIX   II 
"observations"  of  the  royal  commission 

(Pp.  116,  117,  119.) 

We  think  that  the  extension  of  liberty  to  bodies  of  workmen  or 
employers  to  acquire  fuller  legal  personality  than  that  which  they  at 
present  possess  is  desirable  in  order  to  afford,  when  both  parties  wish 
it,  the  means  of  securing  the  observance,  at  least  for  fixed  periods,  of 
the  collective  agreements  which  are  now,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  made 
between  them  in  so  many  cases.  The  associations  which  might  avail 
themselves  of  the  liberty  might  in  some  cases  be  Trade  Unions  or 
Employers  Associations,  and  in  other  cases  bodies  of  workmen  em- 
ployed in  a  few  establishments,  or  even  a  body  employed  in  a  single 
establishment,  according  to  the  circumstances  of  each  industry.  We 
do  not  suggest  that  a  scheme  of  legally  enforceable  agreements  would 
be  applicable  to  the  circumstances  of  all,  or  even,  at  present,  of  the 
larger  part  of  the  industries  of  this  country.  We  find,  however,  from 
the  evidence,  that  a  considerable  and  very  important  part  of  British 
industry  is  conducted  under  collective  agreements  made  in  the  most 
formal  way  between  highly  organized  trade  associations,  and  that  the 
substitution  of  agreements  between  associations  for  agreements  be- 
tween individual  employers  and  individual  workmen  is  a  growing 
practice,  and  one  which  is  intimately  connected  with  the  mode  and 
scale  upon  wliich  modern  industry  is  at  present  carried  on.  It  seems 
to  us  to  be  clear  from  the  evidence  both  of  employers  and  employed 
that  the  advantages  of  this  system  greatly  outweigh  the  disadvant.Tges. 
This  may  not  have  been  so  evident  at  the  date  when  the  Trade  Union 
Act  of  1871  was  passed,  but  it  is  attested  by  the  growth  of  the  system. 


430  APPENDIX  II 

Such  agreements  are,  in  fact,  the  recognition  of  that  virtual  partner- 
ship between  those  who  supply  labour  and  those  who  supply  managing 
ability,  referred  to  in  paragraph  865  of  the  Report,  and  are,  there- 
fore, on  the  whole,  in  accordance  with  the  public  interest  and  with  the 
circumstances  of  modern  industry.  If  this  is  the  case,  then  it  seems  to 
follow  that  further  legislation  is  desirable  in  order  to  bring  the  law 
into  harmony  with  the  present  state  of  facts  and  public  opinion. 

We  think  that  such  an  extension  of  liberty,  if  conceded  (and  in  so 
far  as  it  might  be  acted  upon),  would  not  only  result  in  the  better 
observance  for  definite  periods  of  agreements  with  regard  to  wage- 
rates,  hours  of  labour,  apprenticeship  rules,  demarcation  of  work, 
profit-sharing  and  joint-insurance  schemes,  the  undertaking  of  special 
works,  and  other  matters,  but  would  also  afford  a  better  basis  for  arbi- 
tration in  industrial  disputes  than  any  which  has  yet  been  suggested. 

In  order  to  enable  Trade  Associations  to  enter  into  collective  legally 
binding  agreements,  with  the  consequence  that  in  case  of  breach  of 
contract  they  would  be  liable  to  be  sued  for  damages  payable  out  of 
their  collective  funds,  it  would  not  be  sufficient  to  repeal  sub-section  4 
of  section  4  of  the  Act  of  1871.  Even  if  that  legislative  incapacity 
were  taken  away,  the  Trade  Associations  would  be  prevented  by  their 
want  of  legal  personality  from  entering  into  such  agreements  or  suing 
or  being  sued,  except  with  regard  to  the  management  of  their  funds 
and  real  estate. 

It  would  be  necessary  that  they  should  acquire  by  some  process  of 
registration  a  corporate  character  sufficient  for  these  purposes.  We 
are  anxious  to  make  it  clear  that  we  propose  nothing  of  a  compulsory 
character,  but  that  we  merely  desire  that  existing  or  future  Trade 
Associations  should  have  the  liberty,  if  they  desire  it,  of  acquiring  a 
larger  legal  personality  and  corporate  character  than  that  which  they 
can  at  present  possess.  It  must  be  added  that  even  if  Trade  Associ- 
ations were  thus  clothed  with  a  legal  personality,  it  would  be  open  to 
them  by  express  stipulation  to  provide  that  any  special  agreement 
between  them  should  not  be  enforceable  at  law. 

The  further  powers  of  incorporation  would  not  be  made  a  condition 
of  the  existing  registration,  but  would  be  offered  as  powers  to  be 
obtained  by  registration  under  a  new  act.  The  motive  which  would, 
it  might  be  hoped,  influence  Trade  Associations  so  to  register  would 
be  the  desire  to  acquire  power  to  enter  into  agreements  of  a  more 
solid  and  binding  kind  than  heretofore. 

The  evidence  does  not  show  that  public  opinion  is  as  yet  ripe  for 
the  changes  in  the  legal  status  of  Trade  Associations  which  we  have 
suggested  ;  but  we  have  thought  it  to  be  desirable  to  indicate  what 
may,  as  it  appears  to  us,  ultimately  prove  to  be  the  most  natural  and 
reasonable  solution  of  some  at  least  of  the  difficulties  which  have 
been  brought  to  our  notice. 


INDEX 


Abbott,  Lyman,  400. 

Adams,  Charles  Francis,  on  railroad 
strikes,  353. 

Agreements,  joint  or  collective,  67;  be- 
tween the  Carpenters  Executive  Coun- 
cil and  T.  Nicholson  &  Sons  Co.,  68  ; 
New  York  City  Brotherhood  of  Elec- 
trical Workers,  No.  3,  71 ;  Master  Car- 
penters Exchange  of  Cincinnati  and 
the  Carpenters  District  Council,  74  ; 
Master  Plumbers  and  Journeymen 
Plumbers  of  St.  Louis,  77  ;  the  Inter- 
national Longshoremen's  Association 
and  the  Dock  Managers,  80;  Stove 
Founders  National  Defense  Associa- 
tion and  the  Iron  Molders  Union,  85 ; 
TypothetsB  of  Chicago  and  Typograph- 
ical Union,  No.  16,  90  n.;  The  United 
Mine  Workers  and  the  Bituminous 
Coal  Operators,  for  1900,  97  ;  for  1903, 
99 ;  Chicago  Agreement  of  1898,  100 ; 
Illinois  Coal  Operators  and  United 
Mine  Workers  for  1903,  101  ;  other 
agreements,  114  n.;  keeping  of,  1'2G ; 
should  be  legalized,  280 ;  United  Typo- 
thetae  and  Pressmen's  Union,  307 ; 
provisions  for  arbitration,  413. 

Agriculture,  free  from  labor  troubles,  7. 

Anthracite  coal  strike  of  1902,  report  of 
Commissioner  of  Labor,  283  n. ;  "ar- 
bitration" in,  292,  295,  362. 

Anthracite  Coal  Strike  Commission,  402  ; 
report  quoted,  200  n.,  222,  236  n.,  237. 

Appalachian  country,  industry  in,  7. 

Apprentices,  Statute  of,  26 ;  69,  73,  79, 
86  ;  limitation  of,  232  f . 

Arbitration,  72,  89 ;  distinct  from  col- 
lective bargaining,  121 ,  124  ;  may  sup- 
plement collective  bargaining,  122 ; 
no  absolute  guarantee  of  industrial 
peace,  125 ;  and  the  law,  12() ;  distin- 
guished from  collective  bargaining, 
conciliation,  and  mediation,  293 ;  by 
State  boards,  334,  415 ;  and  fixing  of 
wages,  403;  in  collective  agreements, 
302,  413;  Chicago  Board,  312;  term 
misused,  292,  312  n.  ;  314  n.,  318. 

Arbitrators,  trade,  301,  309. 

Aristocracy,  of  employing  class,  9. 

Arthur,  P.  M.,  249  n.,  2C8. 

Ashley,  W.  J.,  quoted  or  referred  to,  48 ; 
63  n. ;  Taff  Vale  decision,  194  n.,  317, 
328  n. 

Association  in  modem  industry,  1. 

Australia,  South,  wages  boards,  399  n. 

Australia,  West,  state  arbitration  in,  390 
n.,  399  n. 


Awards  of  arbitration  court,  376 ; 
breaches  of,  378. 

Backhouse,  Judge  A.  P.,  388,  391,  399. 

Baer,  President,  individualism,  415. 

Bagehot,  Walter,  16  n.  ;  on  supply  and 
demand,  118  ;  on  trade-unionism,  119; 
on  bargaining,  120  ;  213  n. 

Bagley,  F.  P.,  54. 

Baker,  R.  S.,  on  "Capital  and  Labor 
Together,"  61. 

Bargaining,  nature  of,  210  f.,  216,  221, 
414 ;  individual,  64,  118  ;  should  be 
accomplished  by  employers  and  em- 
ployed, 280,  281.  (See  Collective  Bar- 
gaining.) 

Beloit,  Wis.,  58  n. 

Bemis,  E.  W.,  on  trade-imions  and 
temperance,  38. 

Benefit  features  of  trade-unions,  second- 
ary, 17;  41;   in  future,  414. 

Bigotry  of  trade-union  religionists,  420. 

Blacklist,  the,  52,  266-270,  274. 

Board  of  Trade,  Directory,  46. 

Boards  of  Conciliation  in  Great  Britain, 
312  f. 

Boleu,  George  L.,  32  n. 

Bolton  calico  printers  imprisoned,  30. 

Boycott,  history,  271  f.  ;  simple  and  com- 
pound, 273 ;  Federation  of  Labor,  274 ; 
indefensible,  275,  276. 

Boyle,  J.  E.,  on  Union  Label,  238. 

Brandeis,  L.  D.,  legal  responsibility  of 
trade-unions,  172,  174  ;  incorporation 
of  unions,  175. 

Brandts,  F.,  workmen's  council,  286. 

Brentano,  L.,  Gilds  ami  Trade- Unions, 
45  n. 

Bridwell,  J.  W.,  incorporation  of  trade- 
unions,  154. 

Brooks,  J.  G.,  114  n.,  268. 

Bryca,  James,  ends  and  means  in  gov- 
ernment, 207. 

Buclianaii,  J.  R.,  241  n. 

Biicher,  Carl,  his  Indttstrial  Evolution 
quoted,  (>  n.,  15  n. 

Burke,  Edmund,  quoted,  384,  403. 

Burke,  W.  M.,  Central  Labor  Unions, 
45  n. 

Business  agents,  37,  69,  410. 

"  Ca'-canny"  policy,  8,  230. 

Caimes,  J.  E.,  on  restriction  of  produc- 
tion, 229. 

Capitalist-employer,  220,  410,  416. 

Carpenters'  joint  agreements,  68,  74, 
302. 


432 


INDEX 


Cash  Register  Works,  National,  288. 

Caason,  H.  N.,  trade-unionism,  199; 
hours  of  work,  412. 

Century  Dictionary,  definition  of  trade- 
union,  17  n.  ;  of  boycott,  271  n. 

Chapman,  S.  J.,  quoted,  129  n. ;  on  the 
sliding  scale,  144. 

Chevallier,  E.,  251. 

Cheyuey,  E.  P.,  45  n. 

Cliicago  Board  of  Arbitration,  312. 

Chicago  strike  of  1894,  4,  177,  355-357. 

Chicago  Strike  Commission,  recommen- 
dations, 355. 

Citizens  Industrial  Association  of  Amer- 
ica, 50 ;  constitution,  resolutions,  and 
officers,  426. 

Civic  Federation,  work  for  industrial 
peace,  297. 

Clark,  C.  W.,  disputes  on  railways,  348. 

Clark,  John  B.,  quoted,  401  n.,  407  n., 
408  n. 

Clark,  Victor  S.,  on  New  Zealand,  388, 
393. 

Cleveland,  O.,  trolley  line  strike,  273. 

Closed  shop,  236. 

Cobden,  R.,  224. 

Collective  bargaining,  15 ;  a  term  due 
to  Mrs.  Sidney  Webb,  62  ;  formal  or 
informal,  67  ;  in  Great  Britain,  114 ; 
principles  of,  119  ;  often  confused 
with  arbitration,  121  ;  by  unorganized 
workmen,  122  ;  and  industrial  peace, 
125 ;  compromise  in,  221 ;  no  third 
person  in,  291. 

Combination,  and  society,  14  ;  history  of, 
15  n.  ;  act  of  1799,  29,  30,  48  n. 

Combination  of  employers  (see  Employ- 
ers), 47,  60. 

Combination  of  workingmen  (see  Trade- 
union),  problem  of,  5  ;  its  natural  his- 
tory, 6, 12  ;  favored  by  "  the  impartial 
spectator,"  14  ;  right  denied  by  Eng- 
lish law,  26  ;  logical  under  factory  sys- 
tem, 28 ;  now  a  primary  fact,  409. 

Committees,  shop,  factory,  or  mine,  for 
conciliation,  106,  107,  285,  290. 

Common  rule,  204. 

Compulsion,  in  New  Zealand  law,  386 ; 
necessary  to  state  conciliation,  390, 
391,  402. 

"  Compulsory  arbitration,"  misleading 
phrase,  346,  404  ;  should  fall  into  dis- 
use, 347  ;  not  in  New  Zealand  law, 
368  ;  386,  390. 

Conciliation,  72;  shop  or  factory,  291, 
412 ;  distinguished  from  arbitration 
and  mediation,  293,  295  ;  committee  of 
Civic  Federation,  297  f.  ;  trade,  301  ; 
in  Great  Britain,  312  ;  by  State  Board 
in  Massachusetts,  333  ;  boards  in  New 
Zealand,  372  f.,  384;  economies  of, 
412. 

Cook,  W.  W.,  personal  liberty  of  em- 
ployees, 353  n. 

Corporations,  Kyd  and  Chief  Justice 
Marshall  on,  150  n.  ;  Mannood  and 
Coke  on,  179  n. 

Court  of  Arbitration   in  New  Zealand, 


375  f.,  386  f.,  390,  391,  405;  conserva- 
tism of,  407. 

"  Craddock,  Charles  Egbert,"  novels, 
7n. 

Cree,  T.  S.,  referred  to,  118. 

Crompton,  H.,  314  n.  ;  arbitration  in 
Nottingham,  315. 

CuUen,  W.  P.,  400. 

Custom  of  the  trade,  390. 

Darrow,  C.  S.,  warning  to  trade-unions, 
200. 

Dayton,  O.,  employers'  association,  57; 
constitution  and  by-laws,  423. 

Democracy  and  aristocracy,  10. 

Democratic  platform  of  1902  in  New 
York,  362. 

Denaby  case,  195. 

Devonshire,  Duke  of,  172,  178. 

Dividend  to  Labor,  quoted  or  referred 
to,  13  n.,  251  n. 

Dock  Managers'  agreement,  80,  306. 

Document,  presentations  of  the,  29,  31. 

Donnelly,  S.  B.,  incorporation  of  trade- 
unions,  156. 

Drage,  Geoffrey,  rules  of  employers'  as- 
sociations, 50. 

Driscoll,  F.,  310,  311. 

Duff,  Sir  M.  Grant,  quoted,  9. 

Durand,  E.  D.,  62 ;  restriction  of  produc- 
tion, 231. 

Economics,  need  of  instruction  in,  416. 

Edgerton,  C.  E.,  labor  organizations,  45. 

Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company, 
labor  council,  287. 

Eight-hour  day,  223  f.  ;  State  laws,  227  ; 
Kansas  law,  228  ;  411;  see  Agreements. 

Electrical  Workers'  agreement,  71,  302. 

Ely,  Prof.  R.  T.,  quoted  or  referred  to, 
15  n.,  24,  33,  45  n.,  268,  272,  361. 

Employees,  large  numbers  in  modem 
establishments,  13  n.  ;  combination  of, 
17  f. 

Employer,  a  combination  in  himself,  47, 
66. 

Employer  and  Workman  Act,  31. 

Employer,  essential  reasonableness  of 
American,  416,  417. 

Employers,  under  English  law,  26 ;  and 
laissez  faire,  29;  need  combination, 
54  ;  liability,  234  ;  m  New  Zealand,  389, 
394,  397 

Employers'  as.sociations,  in  the  United 
Kingdom,  49 ;  constitution  and  meth- 
ods, 51  ;  in  the  iron,  steel,  and  tin  in- 
dustries, 59;  rules  of  master  builders 
of  Great  Britain,  421 ;  rules  of  Iron 
Trades  Employers,  422;  of  Dayton, 
Ohio,  423  ;  Citizens  Industrial  Associa- 
tion, 426. 

Engineers,  strike  of  the  Amalgamated,  in 
1897,  55. 

Evidence  before  arbitration  courts,  376. 

Ewington,  F.  G.,  396  n.,  400. 

Expert  assistants  on  arbitration  boards, 
331 ;  on  arbitration  and  conciliation 
boards,  334,  373. 


INDEX 


433 


Factory  system,  creates  labor  problem, 
11. 

Fairbanks  Scale  Works,  290. 

Farmers,  and  laborers,  7 ;  innocent  pub- 
lic, 227  n. 

Farwell,  Mr.  Justice,  183-186. 

Federation  of  Labor,  American,  its  ob- 
ject, li  ;  membership,  20,  45  ;  organiz- 
ers, 39  ;  constitution,  44,  45;  strength 
of,  53;  and  boycotts,  274. 

"  Fighting  it  out,"  insensate  policy,  296. 

Foster,  F.  K.,  objects  of  trade-unionism, 
201,  213  n. 

Founders  Association,  National,  59,  304. 

Freedom  in  trade-unionism,  263 ;  iu  New 
Zealand,  403. 

Freese,  H.,  workmen's  council,  286. 

Frost,  W.  G.,  "  Our  Contemporary  An- 
cestors," 7  n. 

Galton,  F.  W.,  trade-union  life,  35  n. 

Garland,  M.  M.,  on  the  sliding  scale,  146 
n.,  147  ;  incorporation  of  trade-unions, 
153. 

Garrett,  H.  F.,  incorporation  of  trade- 
unions,  153. 

Gaskell,  Mrs.,  Mary  Barton,  30  n. 

Gibbins,  H.  DeB.,  45  n. 

Giblan  v.  Laborers  Union,  189. 

Gilds,  not  the  ancestors  of  trade-unions, 
24,  45  n. 

Gombers,  H.  B.,  incorporation  of  trade- 
unions,  166. 

Gompers,  S.,  incorporation  of  trade- 
unions,  158,  171  ;  maintaining  wages, 
216  ;  boycotts,  273,  274. 

Gunton,  George,  the  unemployed,  226. 

Hal^vy,  D.,  46. 

Hall,  F.  S.,  245  n. 

History  of  Trade-Vnionism,  by  S.  and 
B.  Webb,  referred  to,  24,  26,  45  n., 
passim. 

Hobson,  J.  A.,  quoted  or  referred  to,  15 
n.,407n. 

Holmes,  O.  W.,  trade  in  ashes,  10  n. 

Home  guard  and  regular  army,  55. 

Homestead  strike,  4. 

Hours  of  labor,  see  Agreements. 

Hourwich,  I.  A.,  incorporation  of  trade- 
unions,  180. 

Howell,  George,  45  n. ;  Taff  Vale  deci- 
sion, 193  n. 

Ideals  of  trade-unionism,  198  f.,  411, 418. 

Illinois,  State  Board  of  Arbitration,  334 
n. ;  conciliation  in  coal-mines,  305. 

Incorporation  of  employers'  associations, 
175;  "Observations"  of  Royal  Com- 
mission on,  178,  429  ;  of  employers  and 
workmen,  127. 

Incorporation  of  industrial  unions,  370  ; 
limitation  in  New  Zealand,  382 ;  of 
trade  associations,  430. 

Incorporation  of  trade-unions,  149  ;  not 
demanded  by  American  laws,  151  ;  wit- 
nesses before  Indu.itrial  Commission, 
151  f .  ;  arguments  agamst,  not  tenable, 


167,  171  ;  desirable  form,  179 ;  in  New 
Zealand,  180,  382,  356,  410;  Royal 
Commission  on,  429. 

Indiana,  Board  of  Arbitration,  342  ;  arbi- 
tration in  coal  mines,  305. 

Indiana  Labor  Commission  on  legal  regu- 
lation, 359. 

Indianapolis  Sentinel,  89 ;  publishers' 
association,  90  ;  Convention  of  Miners 
and  Coal  Operators,  94. 

Industrial  agreements,  369,  372,  383. 

Industrial  Commission,  Report  of,  on 
women  in  trade-unions,  22  n.  ;  on  labor 
organizations,  45  n.,  63,  114  n. 

Industrial  democracy,  207. 

Industrial  Department  of  Civic  Federa- 
tion, 297. 

Industrial  peace,  defined,  1 ;  essential 
conditions,  409  f. 

Industrial  unions,  149  n.,  369,  371,  383, 
389,  394,  397,401. 

Industrial  war,  2-4,  240  f. 

Ingram,  J.  K.,  on  slavery,  10  n. 

Injimction,  Mr.  Brandeis  on,  174 ;  doc- 
trine of,  and  incorporation,  177. 

Intimidation,  association  with  trade- 
unionism,  30 ;  of  non-unionists,  234, 
237. 

Investigation  a  duty  of  the  public,  282, 
284  ;  in  Massachusetts,  334. 

Iron  and  Steel  Trade,  Manufactured, 
standing  committee  on  conciliation, 
327. 

Iron  Molders  Union,  59,  303,  304. 

Israel,  Children  of,  not  strikers,  242. 

Jeans,  J.  S.,  referred  to,  148  n.,  328  n. 
Jevons,  W.  S.,  referred  to,  16  n.,  119. 
Justi,  H.,  organization  of  employers,  54; 
97. 

Kankakee,  IU.,  58  n. 

Keefe,  D.  J.,  agreements,  306. 

"  Keeping  the  ring,"  poor  policy,  297. 

KeUey,  J.  S.,  incorporation  of  trade- 
unions,  152. 

Kennedy,  J.  L.,  incorporation  of  unions, 
151. 

Knights  of  Labor,  aims  of,  14,  16  n.,  43, 
202. 

Label,  union,  238. 

Labor  and  Capital  on  "  compulsory  arbi- 
tration," 400. 

Labour  Gazette,  quoted,  19  n.,  21  n.,  23. 

Labourers,  Statute  of,  26. 

Law,  and  contracts  of  labor,  27;  sub- 
jection to,  402,  403,  408. 

Lawson,  W.  R.,  ca'  canny  system,  230. 

Leake,  F.,  incorporation  of  trade-unions, 
166. 

Legal  regulation  of  labor  di.sputes,  346 
f. ;  on  railroads,  356,  358-361  ;  the 
case  for,  401  f. 

Levasseur,  E.,  L'Ouvrier  AmSricain,  45 
n.,  405  n. 

Liability,  employer's,  233. 

License  system  on  railroads,  349,  357. 


434 


INDEX 


Lindley,  Lord,   responsibility  of  trade- 

unious,  173  u.,  189. 
Living  wage,  the,  203,  217,  219,  222. 
Lloyd,  Henry  D.,  364,  388. 
Local    trade-unions,    constitution    and 

methods,  35. 
Lockouts,  245,  253,  254. 
Longshoremen's  Association,  agreement, 

80  ;  arbitration,  306,  307. 
Lords,  House  of,  Taff  Vale  case,  184. 

MacGregor,  John,  306  n.,  400. 

Machinery,  Somerset  workmen  and,  28; 
230. 

McMackin,  J.,  on  incorporation  of 
trade-unions,  151. 

McNeill,  George  E.,  25,  45  n.,  213  n. 

M'Pherson,  J.  B.,  328  n. 

Mann,  Mr.  Tom,  friendly  to  New  Zea- 
land system,  406. 

Manufacturers,  NationaJ  Association  of, 
.53,  01  n.,  428. 

Mariemont  and  Bascoup  mines,  com- 
mittees, 288. 

Marsliall,  Alfred,  the  employer  as  a 
combination,  47  ;  on  the  sliding  scale, 
136 ;  monotony  of  life,  411. 

Massachusetts  Board  of  Arbitration,  329; 
reports,  335 ;  work,  1894-1900,  336  f . ; 
reputation  of,  337  ;  345. 

Massachusetts  law  on  arbitration,  329  f. 

Mather,  S.,  306. 

Meadville,  Pa.,  organization  of  employ- 
ers and  workmen,  53. 

Mediation,  293,  295. 

Metal  Trades  Association,  National, 
59,  61  n. ;  agreement  with  the  Ma^ 
chinists  Union  broken,  123. 

M<5tin,  A.,  on  New  Zealand,  388,  389. 

Midland  Iron  and  Steel  Wages  Board, 
rules  and  instructions,  320  f. 

Mine  Workers,  United,  its  funds,  24 ; 
conciliation,  305. 

Minimum  wage,  204. 

Mitchell,  John,  32  n.,  45  n.,  95  n.,  96, 
167  n.,213n. 

Moissenet,  F.,  referred  to,  128  n. 

Monopolies,  regulation  of,  the  modern 
problem,  408. 

Monotony  of  work,  411. 

More,  Sir  T.,  hours  of  work,  412. 

Morley,  J.,  quoted,  347. 

Morrison,  C,  63. 

Morss,  S.  E.,  on  joint  agreements,  89. 

Moseley,  E.  A.,  regulation  of  disputes  on 
railroads,  360. 

Mosely,  A.,  English  employers,  289. 

Mundella,  A.  J.,  314. 

Munro,  J.  E.  C,  on  sliding  scale,  129  n., 
136. 

National  Trade  Unions,  34 ;  constitution 

and  methods,  38. 
Newcastle  engineers'  strike,  123. 
New  South  Wales,  390  n.,  399  n.,  400. 
Newspaper       Publishers       Association, 

agreements,  92,  310,  311. 
New  York  Board  of  Mediation  and  Arbi- 


tration, account  of,  340 ;  work  of, 
1894-1900,  341 ;  on  legal  regulation  of 
railway  disputes,  349  f. ;  recommenda- 
tions, 351. 

New  Zealand,  Conciliation  and  Arbitra- 
tion Act,  364  f .  ;  abstract  of,  368  ;  ad- 
vance of  law  into  field  of  industry, 
381  ;  population  95  per  cent.  English, 
398  ;  thanks  due  to,  408. 

New  Zealand  system  of  conciliation  and 
arbitration,  successful,  396, 403 ;  future 
of,  397  ;  England  and  America  not 
ready  for,  400 ;  arguments  against, 
406  ;  extension  of,  415. 

Nieboer,  H.  J.,  the  slave-relation,  11. 

Non-unionists,  many  formerly  unionists, 
21  n. ;  profit  by  unionism,  22 ;  under 
collective  agreements,  116 ;  and 
strikes,  241  ;  epithets,  262  ;  and  pub- 
lic, 278  ;  treatment  by  unionists,  420. 

Nostitz,Herr  von,  Ascent  of  the  Working 
Classes,  199  n. 

Nottingham,  conciliation  in,  315  f. 

"  Observations,"  of  the  Royal  Commis- 
sion, 178,  194,  429. 

Ohio  State  Board  of  Arbitration  on  legal 
regulation,  358. 

Open  shop,  236. 

Organization  of  labor,  the  term,  5  n. 

Ostrogorski,  M.,  63  n. 

Overtime.   (See  Agreements.) 

Owen,  R.,  224. 

Palgrave,  Dictionary  of  Political  Eco- 
nomy, 16  n. 

Parry,  D.  M.,  428,  429. 

Parsons,  Frank,  400. 

Paternalism  of  mediaeval  English  labor 
legislation,  27. 

Peace,  industrial,  1,  409. 

Perkins,  G.  W.,  incorporation  of  trade- 
unions,  162. 

Peters  and  Co.,  D.,  workmen's  council, 
285. 

Picketing,  263-265. 

Place,  Francis,  Life  of,  30  n. 

Plumbers'  agreement,  77,  303. 

Pressmen,  International,  agreement, 
307. 

Price,  L.  L.,  Industrial  Peace,  129  n.; 
sliding  scale,  142. 

Procedure  of  conciliation  boards,  374, 
380,  385;  of  arbitration  court,  378, 
380. 

Production,  increase  of,  411. 

Proverbs,  Book  of,  quoted,  96,  414. 

Public,  the  third  party  to  labor  disputes, 
277  ;  nature  of,  278 ;  its  interests  su- 
preme, 279,  410 ;  good  sense  of,  417. 

Public  utilities,  labor  disputes  in,  361  f. 

Rae,  John,  eight-hour  day,  223  f . 

Railroads,  labor  disputes  on,  348  f.  ;  im- 
portance of,  in  New  York,  352  ;  ser- 
vice should  resemble  national  services, 
354  ;  Chicago  Strike  Commission  on, 
356  ;  employees  in  New  Zealand,  380. 


INDEX 


435 


Rantoul,  Robert,  defends  boot-makers, 
Ai. 

Ratchford,  176. 

Reade,  Charles,  Put  Yourself  in  His 
Place,  30  n. 

Recognition  of  the  union,  236. 

Reed,  W.  A.,  immunity  of  trade-unions, 
174  n. 

Reeves,  W.  P.,  364,  367,  396  n.,  399  n. 

Registration  of  industrial  unions,  368, 
383 

"  Related  trades,"  371,  383. 

Religion,  trade-unionism  as  a,  214,  418. 

Responsibility  for  use  of  power,  168, 172, 
197. 

Restriction  of  production,  by  unions, 
229,  230,  231. 

Rhetoric,  an  enemy  of  compromise, 
212. 

Ricardo's  law  of  wages,  205  n. 

Right  to  work,  237  ;  to  strike,  209,  261. 

Riverside  Press,  250. 

Roberts,  Peter,  132  n. 

Roosevelt,  President,  and  the  coal  strike, 
295,  296,  303,  402. 

Rosier,  Max,  workmen's  council,  280. 

Rousiers,  P.  de,  Trade- Umunisme,  45  n. 

Royal  Commission,  on  Labour,  Observa- 
tions appended  to  Report,  429 ;  on 
Trade  Disputes  and  Trade  Combina- 
tions, 105  n. 

Rutland,  Vt.,  58. 

Sayward,  W.  H.,  incorporation  of  trade- 
unions,  106. 

Schaffer,  T.  J.,  incorporation  of  trade- 
unions,  163. 

Schloss,  D.  F.,  "lump  of  labor,"  229. 

SchmoUer,  G.,  on  the  sliding  scale,  146. 

Schonfarber,  J.  G.,  incorporation  of 
trade-unions,  157. 

Schulze-Gavernitz,  Dr.  von,  328  n. 

Schwab,  C.  M.,  229. 

Science  and  invention,  199  n. 

Seal  in  trade-unions,  37. 

Seilhac,  L.  de,  46. 

Siegfried,  A.,  on  New  Zealand,  388,  390. 

Sherman,  H.  W.,  incorporation  of  trade- 
unions,  1G4. 

Slaves  and  slavery,  10. 

Sliding  scale,  the,  129;  L.  L.  Price  on, 
129  n.,  143,  147;  of  the  United  Sons 
of  Vulcan,  130 ;  of  the  Workingmen's 
Benevolent  Association,  132  ;  fixed  by 
the  Anthracite  Strike  Commission, 
134 ;  and  the  fair  wage,  135  ;  reaction 
against,  among  economists,  130 ;  W. 
Smart  on,  136;  of  the  Midland  Iron 
and  Steel  Wages  Board,  138;  Scottish 
Blast  Fiirnacemen,  141 ;  criticised  by 
Prof.  Ashley,  142;  Prof.  Chapman,  on 
14-1;   theoretical  imperfections,  147. 

Smart,  William,  219. 

Smith,  Adam,  14. 

Smith,  Sir  A.,  Taff  Vale  case,  180. 

Smith,  K.  J.,  61. 

Social  Science  Association,  Report  on 
Trades'  Societies,  46. 


Socialism,  legal  regulation  half-way 
house  to,  407. 

Spohn,  M.,  incorporation  of  trade-unions, 
163. 

Spyers,  T.  G.,  referred  to,  128  n. 

Stahl,  J.  M.,  on  the  farmers,  277  n. 

Standard  of  living,  American,  218. 

Stute  boards  of  arbitration,  329 ;  value 
of  work.  336  ;  342-344  ;  not  taken  seri- 
ously, 345.  (See  New  York,  Massachu- 
setts, and  Indiana.) 

Stettee,  J.  G.,  Tatf  Vale  decision,  192. 

Stepniak  on  meetings  of  the  Russian  7Hir, 
96. 

Stimson,  F.  J.,  incorporation  of  trade- 
unions,  167. 

Stove  Founders  National  Defense  Asso- 
ciation, 58,  3U3,  304  n. 

Street  Railway  Employees,  their  aim,  13. 

Strasser,  A.,  incorporation  of  trade- 
unions,  154. 

Strike,  war  of  words  at  first,  3  ;  and  em- 
ployers' associations,  52  ;  right  to,  209, 
261  ;  defined,  240 ;  means  of  support, 
241  ;  causes  of,  243  ;  sympathetic,  244, 
245  n.  ;  logic  of,  247-252,  262. 

Strikes,  at  Homestead,  4  ;  of  the  Amal- 
gamated Engineers,  55  ;  statistics  of, 
252-260;  and  trade-unions,  256,  265; 
success  and  failure,  259  ;  losses  caused 
by,  259-261 ;  initiation  of,  265  ;  legality 
of,  266  ;  on  New  York  Central  Rail- 
road, 349  ;  at  Buffalo,  353 ;  in  Austra- 
lasia, 365. 

Suggestion  systems,  288,  289,  413. 

Suspension  of  work  not  to  occur  while 
settlement  is  making,  82,  86,  92  n.,  296, 
326,  .327,  331,  379. 

Sympathetic  strikes,  70,  72,  78,  92  n., 
244,  309. 

Tables,  of  English  trade-unions,  1802- 
1902, 19  n.  ;  of  expenditures  by  English 
unions  for  friendly  benefits,  43  n.  ; 
strikes  in  the  United  States,  253  ;  lock- 
outs, 253  ;  duration  of  strikes  and  lock- 
outs, 254  ;  disputes  in  the  United  King- 
dom, 255,  256 ;  leading  causes  of 
strikes,  2.57 ;  causes  of  strikes  by 
groups,  258 ;  work  of  Massachusetts 
Board  of  Arbitration,  336  ;  of  New 
York  Board  of  Arbitration,  341. 

Taff  Vale  Railway  decision,  173, 181-195, 
196. 

Tariffs  and  wages,  417. 

Taylor,  H.  O.,  IKl. 

Taylor,  R.  W.  Cook,  40. 

Temperance  and  trade-unions,  38,  82. 

Thornton,  W.  T.,  on  unionism,  32  ;  63 
n.,  229. 

Tin  Plate  Company,  American,  60, 
64. 

Trade  boards  of  conciliation  and  arbitra- 
tion, 301,  326. 

Trade-union,  defined,  16  ;  a  trust,  203. 

Trade-unionism,  importance,  23;.streiigth 
of,  r<i ;  chief  tool  of  modern  worker, 
198;  not  a  church,  214  ;  future  of, 235, 


436 


INDEX 


420 ;  profoimdly  humane  movement, 
418  ;  a  religiou,  -H'J. 

Trade-uiiious,  naturalness  of,  12,  25 ; 
primarily  militant  bodies,  17  ;  in  Eng- 
land and  America,  I'J ;  membership, 
20  ;  proportion  to  population  and  work- 
ers, 20  ;  strength  of,  21,  170  ;  financial 
strength,  23  ;  origin  of,  25  ;  nature  of 
prosecution  in  England,  28  ;  fully  legal- 
ized in  England  in  1875,  32 ;  attitude 
toward  the  economists,  32;  history  in 
the  United  States,  33 ;  methods,  35 ; 
attitude  toward  the  saloon,  38 ;  Board 
of  Trade's  Directory,  4G  ;  more  power- 
ful than  imorgauized  employers,  53 ; 
now  legally  responsible,  172 ;  Royal 
Commission  of  1903  on,  195  n. ;  should 
become  incorporated,  190  ;  as  a  church, 
214  ;  future  of,  414. 

Trades-union  incorrect  expression,  16  n. 

Trusts  and  monopolies,  408,  410,  412, 
417. 

Typographical  Union,  International, 
agreement  for  arbitration,  310. 

Typographical  Union,  No.  16,  agreement, 
90,  305. 

Typothetae,  Chicago  agreement,  90  n. ; 
arbitration,  305  ;  United,  of  America, 
agreement,  307. 

United  States,  trade-unions  in,  33  ;  Steel 
Corporation,  60. 

Victoria,  Royal  Commission,  388,  389, 
392,  399  n.,"400  n. ;  wages  boards,  399  n. 

Violence  in  strikes  and  the  trade-unions, 
30,  168  ;  inexcusable,  282  ;  should  be 
cause  of  dismissal  from  trade-unions, 
357. 

Wages  boards,  116,  312;  in  Victoria, 
399  n. ;  fixing  of,  405.  (See  Agree- 
ments.) 


Wakefield,  Gilbert,  on  "  organization  of 
labor,"  5  n. 

Walker,  A.  F.,  blacklist,  268. 

Walker,  F.  A.,  223  n. 

Walking  delegate,  37,  410. 

Waltham  Watch  Factory,  290. 

War,  industrial,  2-A.. 

Watson,  R.  Spence,  328  n. 

Weavers,  Scottish,  imprisoned,  30. 

Webb,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sidney,  definition  of 
trade-union,  IG  n.  ;  trade-union  resem- 
bles a  sieve,  22  n.  ;  combination  of 
workiugmen  in  eighteenth  century, 
29 ;  economists  and  unionism,  33  n.  ; 
combination  law  of  1799,  48  n. ;  col- 
lective bargaiuing,;61-64,  115;  on  Taff 
Vale  decision,  193,  194  n.,  233,  243 n.  ; 
on  arbitration  and  conciliation,  314  n. 

Weber,  A.  F.,  eight-hour  day,  224  n. 

Weeks,  Joseph  D.,  328  n. 

White,  Henry,  213  n. 

White  lists,  270. 

Willett,  Dr.  Mabel  H.,  quoted,  22  n. 

Willoughby,  W.  F.,  employers'  liability, 
234. 

Wills,  Mr.  Justice,  on  strikes,  191. 

Wise,  B.  R.,  400. 

Women  in  trade-unions,  22  n. 

Wordsworth,  171. 

"  Worker  "  in  New  Zealand  act,  369  n. 

Working  rules,  in  English  building 
trades,  115,  116. 

Workingman,  essential  reasonableness  of 
American,  416. 

Workmen's  councils,  D.  Peters  and  Co., 
286 ;  F.  Brandts,  286  ;  M.  Rosier, 
286;  H.  Freese,  286;  F.  Ringhofter 
and  otliers,  287. 

Wright,  Carroll  D.,  quoted  or  referred 
to,  24,  33,  135  ;  on  trade-unionism  in 
the  United  States,  34  ;  incorporation  of 
trade-unions,  152,  164,  176, 223  n.,  273, 
328  n.,  400. 


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ififtl)  1:1)0  ufiauD. 

Profit  Sharing 

BETWEEN  EMPLOYER  AND  EMPLOYEE. 

A  Study  in  the  Evolution  of  the  Wages  System. 

BY   NICHOLAS    PAINE   OILMAN. 


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certain  Dr.  Dix  and  his  pupils.  Naturally,  a  discourse  on  morals 
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